Before it Began
by ViralNuts
Summary: Title will probably change. The Virals find a book called VIRALS by Kathy Reichs before the whole dog tag thing. What would happen if they were warned of what happened first? Sorry for the bad summary, just read the first chapter and tell me what you think :) Oh, and, alas, I do not own Virals. So sad, so sad.
1. Chapter 1: Prolouge

**A/N: So this is ViralNut (duh) and my first fanfiction. So excited! Anyways, this will be taking place before the Virals go all… Viral. Basically it's the Virals reacting to the book Virals (which is totally awesome). I'm hoping that they're all in character, but I'm not all too sure. Oh, and when it is bold, they are reading the book out loud. I think I'm forgetting something... I don't know. Anyways, enjoy**!

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"So… does anybody know where the heck we are?" Shelton asked, nervously.

"No." Ben deadpanned.

"In the middle of a clearing?" Hi was trying to juggle rocks. Not the best idea, if you asked me.

"Holy shitz-" Plop, plop, plop. Ow, ow, ow. "Man, that hurt."

Exactly my point, Hiram.

"Okay… so how do we get out of here?" I asked.

"We don't! We build fort, camp out! Kill monkeys with homemade arrows. Eat their flesh raw…" Hi trailed off, as I glared.

Whack.

Score one for the rotting stick!

"Ben, Tory's being mean," Hi whined.

I grinned, as Ben flicked a twig at him, leaning down against a tree.

We were in a clearing. Stump in the middle. Monkeys surrounding us.

Lost.

"I'm going to search for the trail," Ben stated, pushing off the tree. Four wide strides. Gone.

I raised my eyebrows. "What the hell. I'm off."

I followed in his suit. Branches cracked beneath my feet. Summer leaves falling to make way for autumn. The occasional rock, scattered about.

Peaceful.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Pat.

Wait.

What?

"Hey! Ben!" I called, bending down.

A book?

"Look at this," In a flash, he was at my side.

"As it would appear…" He trailed off, taking it from me. Brushed off dirt.

"Virals," I stated. "By Kathy Re… Ricks? Bechs?"

He stood up straight.

"I think that says Reichs," He said. "Virals, by Kathy Reichs."

I nod, uncertain. "So what's it doing here?"

Ben shrugged. Said nothing.

I flipped open the cover.

**This book is dedicated to the good people and dogs of Charleston. Thanks for welcoming me to the neighborhood!**

"Well, the author lived here."

Next Page.

"And, apparently liked maps."

Ben pointed at the bottom corner. "Look at that. Loggerhead. I think she worked here."

I nodded. "This is actually really detailed." I squinted my eyes, trying to make out the key.

"Oh my God…" I whispered.

Ben looked at where I was pointing.

"Does that say the Bunker, or am I imagining things?"

"It's right there. Look! Right where ours is!" I exclaimed.

For a moment, we just stared at the map, a kind of uncontained excitement rushing through us.

"Who are the Virals?" Ben finally asked.

"Well. Let's find out."

I flipped the page.

**Prologue**

**A gunshot is the loudest sound in the universe.**

"Well yeah." I said. "Duh."

Ben stopped reading. Stared at me.

Flipped it back to the cover.

Stared at me.

Stared at the book.

Me.

Book.

Me.

Book.

Me.

"Uh, Ben?" I asked hesitantly. Only mildly freaked out here.

"Tell me, Tory. Does this look like you?" He asked in a weirdly quiet voice.

I glanced at the cover. Cracked. Dog eared. Faded. A faint shadow of dust covering the whole thing.

A dark forest is in the background. A column of light, illuminating a girl. White tee shirt. Running. With red hair, or brown hair? I can't tell.

I can sort of see the resemblance. Kind of. It's too dark to make it out.

"I- I guess?"

Ben blinked. Went back to reading.

**Especially if the bullet is coming at you.**

**Crack! Crack!**

**Bullets slashed the forest canopy. Overhead, monkeys screeched and scattered.**

**Down below, I ran.**

**Heedless, legs hammering, I pounded through the undergrowth.**

**Mind blank. Terrified.**

"This is… this is weird. To say the least." I said. "Is this happening at Loggerhead?"

"Well, that would explain the monkeys,"

**Shapes zoomed by in the black. Trees. Bushes. Startled creatures. Gun toting killers? I couldn't tell. Heart thumping, I barreled forward in a blind sprint. Blind.**

"I'm starting to hope that this _isn't_ happening on Loggerhead," I interrupted.

**A root snagged my foot and**

"Guys! I found the path! I found the path!"

Shelton bursted through the brush, red faced and panting.

"We found the path!" Hi corrected, following close behind.

"Hey- wassat?" Shelton asked, noticing the book.

I shook my head. For an instant, I had felt like I was literally in the book. Like I was that- girl? Boy? Oh god. I need to finish it.

"Tory found it on the floor."

Hi shrugged. "Whatever. While you guys were reading fairy tales, Shelton and I-"

Shelton smacked him. "Dude! Think! Who the hell would drop a book here? On Loggerhead?"

I felt immensely stupid. That had never even occurred to me.

"I'm pretty sure this isn't a fairy tale." I said. "Virals. By Kathy Reichs."

Hi scrunched up his nose. "Virals? As in a… Viral?"

"Think so. We were only on the first page."

Shelton circled behind me. Speed read.

"Whoa. Talk about excitement."

Hi grabbed the book from him. Stared at the cover.

"Hey, Tory! Is this you?"

Face-palm.

Ben nodded, "You see it too."

Shelton shrugged. "It's too dark to make out the facial features. But if you look really close…" The guys huddled around the book, squinting and going cross eyed.

"Hey! Peoples!"

I snatched the book back. "Who found it, again?" Cupped my ear. "Oh yeah… Me!"

I hugged the book. "Now, if you don't mind, we should be getting back to the boat."

I stormed off.

Waaait. Where's the path, again?

Hi snickered. "This away, milady."

I swatted him with the book.

"Careful, madam. Or we might just leave you here. Defenseless against these ah…" He gestured at the sky.

"Defenseless against the sky? Oh yes, that makes all the sense in the world. I'm terrified." Too heavy on the sarcasm? With Hi? Never.

"Just lead the way," Shelton muttered, shoving Hi forward.

The rest of the way back was silent. Single file. Ben, Hi, Shelton, than myself.

The whole time I kept thinking about the book. Desperate to go back to it. What happened to the girl? Or boy, I suppose. Who was shooting her? Why were they shooting her?

Who was she, anyways?

I shook my head, as if shaking off all the thoughts. No help.

"Tory. Give me the book," Ben said, suddenly. He turned to face me, letting Hi take the lead. Walking backwards, he put out his hand. "The book. Now."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because you're obsessing over it,"

I cross my arms around the book.

"And how would you know that?"

"Because you aren't denying it. And, you aren't saying anything."

"Nobody is saying anything."

Ben smirked. "Exactly my point."

"Explain."

"Give me the book."

"Explain."

"The book."

Staring contest.

His eyes were… interesting. Dark. Long eye lashes.

And currently unblinking.

My eyes began to water.

Blink! Blink! Blink!

Shut up subconscious!

Blink! Blink! Blink!

"Fudge," I said, as my eyelids closed on their own accord.

Ben reached out, and plucked the book from my arms.

"Thank you," He said, before darting off into the foliage.

"Damn you, Blue," I shouted.

Shelton and Hi snickered.

"Red, learn to deal with it," Hi said.

I glared at him. "Go to hell,"

Hi spread his arms as if to give me a hug. "Been there and back. Not too much to see."

I gave him a final glare, before chasing after Ben.

Thump, thump, thump, thump. Run, run, run, run.

I raced ahead, searching for Ben. I needed to get that book back.

"Benjamin Blue!" I shouted.

"Ben!"

A snort of laughter reached my ears.

Damn it!

I'm not really sure what happened then. One second I was chasing Ben down. The next I was jogging. Almost enjoying myself. Or, scratch that. I was enjoying myself.

A calm, peaceful, relaxed jog. In eighty degree temperature.

I darted out from the trees. Light flooded my eyesight, and I stopped. Shielding my eyes, I scanned the dock for Ben's sixteen-foot Boston Whaler runabout, Sewee.

There. Ben was lounging on the deck, eyes closed, arms behind head.

Leap. Thud. On.

Ben's eyes were still closed. The book was behind his back. The book...

As soft as possible, I crouched behind him. Stretched my hand. Almost there...

"Sly."

I jumped, falling over on my butt. Ben stood over me smirking.

"Need something?"

Bright red, I glared at him. "The book."

"What book?"

God, I hate this boy. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

He lifted a hand. "This one?"

Without warning, Shelton appeared behind me.

"Do you mind?"

He snatched the book from Ben. Ben snatched it back.

"Give me the bloody book!" I screamed. They silenced.

Calm down, Tory.

"I found the book. And I intend on reading it. Now, give it to me."

Sullenly, Ben handed it over.

"Thank you." I sat down on the floor, and opened it up.

A gunshot is the loudest sound in the universe.

Especially if the bullet is coming at you.

Crack! Crack! Bullets slashed the forest canopy.

"Hey Tory," Hi plopped down next to me. "Mind if I read?"

I glared at him.

"Yes."

He put his hands up. "I swear, I won't take it!"

I lifted a finger. "If you dare…"

"I'd have to be mad to do that!"

No. I don't trust him.

"How about I read aloud?"

Hi smirked. "Yes, Mommy,"

Stupid Hi.

I started over. Again.

**A gunshot is the loudest universe.**

**Especially if the bullet is coming at you.**

**Crack! Crack!**

**Bullets slashed the forest canopy. Overhead, monkeys screeched and scattered.**

"This is happening at Loggerhead, right?" Hi asked. I nodded, frustrated.

"Yes. Now please. Shut up."

**Down below I ran.**

**Heedless, legs hammering. I pounded through the underbrush.**

**Shapes zoomed past in the darkness. Trees. Bushes. Gun-toting killers? I couldn't tell. Heart thumping, I barreled forward in a dead sprint. Blind.**

"You aren't reading that book aloud to Hi, are you?" Shelton asked, crouching on my other side.

"Yes. As a matter of fact, I am."

Shelton shrugged. "Count me in,"

**A root snagged my leg. Pain detonated in my leg.**

**Get up! Get up! Get up!**

**Something large zipped past in the darkness. I froze.**

**"Ben?!"**

"Yes, Tory?" Ben said, turning around.

"I wasn't talking to you," I said, puzzled.

"You said Ben."

I opened my mouth. Gaped like a fish.

Stared back at the book.

"Holy crap…" I whispered, reading ahead.

Hi scrambled to his feet. "Oh my gosh! I just… man!" He said, peering over my shoulder.

"What is it?!" Shelton exclaimed.

"I- I- I'll just read it," I stuttered.

**No reply. sudden stillness.**

**Waiting here means death. Move!**

**Scrambling to his feet, I bolted into the night.**

**Was Hi up ahead?**

"I'm in there! I'm there!" Hi squealed, grabbing the book from him.

"Give. That. Back!"

"Oh my gosh! Shelton! Ben! Tory!"

I glared at him. "Yes. Those are our names."

Shelton sighed. "Hi, give the book back to Tory."

"Thank you, Shelton."

**Shelton had gone left, darting into the foliage.**

**Please be Ben that ran by me!**

"You know, Ben isn't that uncommon a name," Ben started.

"Yes. I am fully aware of it."

"But Hi? Shelton?"

I nodded. "Right you are. Now can I read this?"

**We hadn't had a plan. Why would we? No one knew we were here, or what we were doing.**

**Who the hell is trying to shoot me?**

"This is one action packed prologue. And where are you, Tory?" Hi asked.

"Maybe they're talking from my point of view?" I suggested, forgetting to be mad.

"A possibility. A possibility."

**Exhausted, I gulped air.**

**Later, after the change,**

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa. What am I missing?" Shelton said.

"What change?"

"We don't know," I responded, exasperated. "Now, could you please, stop, interrupting!"

**I could have run forever. Fast. Tireless. My perfect vision piercing the night's shadows. Not gasping, lost in the shapeless dark.**

"Is this person scaring you?" I asked, looking up from the book.

Shelton whacked me over the head. "Read! Remember? 'Stop interrupting!'"

Glare. Why is my mouth talking on it's own accord?!

**These thugs wouldn't have stood a chance, whoever they were. Not with our powers unleashed. My pack would have savaged them.**

"You're right, Tory. That is scary." Hi said, leaning back. Thinking. "Who's her pack?"

"Or his," I reminded them. "I guess Hi, Ben, and Shelton."

"Okay, that's just weird," Shelton said.

"Us, being her-his pack? I'm not part of a pack!"

"They never said it was you, Shelton. Just somebody named Shelton."

**Planned without speaking a word.**

"How does one plan without speaking? I'm assuming they aren't writing, either." Ben said suddenly.

"Body motions," Hi did the wave.

"Eyeballing." Shelton squinted, trying to go cross eyed.

"You guys look like total dofuses," Ben smiled. Wait. Ben Blue, smiling? A day to remember.

"And proud of it!"

**Stalked them like kittens. Then taken out the trash.**

"I like this girl." Hi started.

"Or guy, or guy!" He said in response to my stare. "It just sounds like how a girl would think! A bad ass girl with magical powers, anyways.

**But not that night. I was in trouble. Fading.**

"Or maybe not so bad ass." Hi amended.

I sighed. If this continued, we would never get through the book.

"How exactly does one fade?" Shelton said quizzically. He took of his glasses as a wave sprayed us with salt water. I enjoyed every drop.

"I'm not sure. I guess her confidence was diminishing?"

"Eh. Maybe. It still doesn't make sense."

**Scared shitless.**

**So I ran. Hard. Branches clawed at my limbs and ripped my skin.**

"Ouch."

"Shut it, Hi."

**Finally, I hit open space.**

**The beach! I was close.**

**A voice hissed from the void.**

"Man, that must have been terrifying!" Hi exclaimed. "In the dark, running from killers, and now somebody is hissing at you? Terrifying."

Ben snorted. "Wimp."

"Hey! You would have been scared too!"

I shook my head. Continued the reading.

**"Tory! Over here!"**

"Okay, that settles it." Shelton said."This is about us."

"So where did it come from?" Ben asked. "And why are we running from a bunch of killers?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe… I dunno."

Hi grinned. "We've become superheroes, and are off to save the world with our bad ass powers and change!"

"Hi, this is before the change, remember?" But I was still fairly creeped out. If this is, by some weird chance, about us, what's happening? And when did it take place?

I was so absorbed in my thinking I had forgotten to read.

"Tory…" Hi sang. "Earth to Tory…"

I scrunched up my nose. Stuck out my tongue.

"Nice. Real smooth, Brennan," Shelton said.

"Oh, shut up."

**Shelton.**

"Can you just start reading?" Shelton asked.

I looked up, confused. "I was reading."

He raised his eyebrows. "Uh… No you weren't."

"Yes I was! You just interrupted me before I could get past the first word!"

"You didn't even say the first word!"

"Yes I did!" We were shouting, now.

"See? Shelton! That's the first word!"

"Calm down, lady," Hi interjected.

I turned to glare at him. "Shut it, Hi."

I sat back down, unaware I had stood in the first place.

"Sorry, Tory," Shelton apologized. "Misunderstanding."

I nodded. "Apology accepted."

"Shouldn't you be apologizing too?" Ben said.

"Shut up."

**Thank God.**

"Oh hey! You're thanking God because you saw me! I feel so welcomed."

"We don't know if this is even about us, remember?"

"Whatever! It could be."

**In the starlight,**

"Is there such thing as starlight? I'm pretty sure the stars don't project light."

"Pretend there is, Shelton. Pretend there is."

**I could just make out the boat. Vaulting the railing, I dropped into the bow and turned to scan the shoreline.**

"You know, Tory, this is sounding a lot like something in the pirate ages. You're using proper terms and everything!"

"You guys made me use them, remember?"

"Oh yeah…"

**Clear. For the moment.**

**"Where's Hi? Ben?" I whispered, panting, sweat-drenched. I was definitely on tilt.**

**"I'm here." Ben eased from the darkness. A quick bound and he was in, sliding behind the controls. Keys in hand, he paused. Afraid to turn the engine. Afraid not to.**

"Oh, and look! Ben is in character too! He's driving! Or steering. Or… whatever you call it."

"Hi, that could just be coincidence."

"Yeah, but it could also not be coincidence too!"

He had a point there. But still… I stop myself. Don't argue Tory. Read.

**Hi was still out there.**

"Oh hell no!"

"That's what it says,"

"Yeah, jelly belly. You never were too quick…"

"Jerks! You're going to ditch me, aren't you!"

"I do hope not," I said.

"Assholes. Why do I have such shitty friends?"

"Because we're the only teens on this island?"

"Oh yeah… You guys are the best!" Hi said, sarcasm dripping from every word.

"Get your arm off me," Shelton said, shoving him away.

"Unappreciative."

**We sat, tensed, waiting.**

"Ha! I told you! We're nice people," Shelton exclaimed.

"Just wait. Y'all are going to ditch me."

"And who wouldn't?" Ben said, as he spun the boat in a circle, pulling up to the dock.

"Think on it."

"I'm your best friend! You wouldn't!" Hi mock-gasped. Choked.

"I'm impressed, Hi. Choking on air." Shelton snickered.

"I… don't… like you." Shelton thumped him on the back. Hard.

Unable to help myself, I let out a small smile.

**My courage leaked from my shoes.**

"I told you. Bitches." Hi rubbed his throat. "Your courage is leaking. You're gonna leave me to die."

"Drama queen," Ben muttered under his breath.

I ignored their banter. Read, Tory, Read!

**Come on, Hi. Show. Please, oh please, oh please, oh please…**

"Ha. At least Tory wants me." He grumbled.

"I'm just awesome like that."

"I know. I love you."

"Oh, Romeo!" I squealed, half annoyed, half amused. "I love you too!"

Hi squeaked like a girl, and launched himself into my arms.

"Get OFF me Hiram!"

I tumbled to the ground, hitting my head on the side of the boat. And, of course, just as my luck would have it, Ben yanked his boat to a stop at that exact time.

"Ben!"

"Sorry, sorry. I need to work on my parking. No brakes."

"Well, work harder, dude. You currently suck." Hi rubbed his elbow.

I stood quickly, ignoring my own knee scrape. "I couldn't have done it," Hoping he wouldn't sulk.

Instead, he chuckled. "No blood, no foul,"

Hi frowned. Pointed at his elbow.

"No blood, no foul?"

"Fine. But my elbow hurts, so you still lose."

I picked the book off the ground. Dusted it off.

"So where were we?" Shelton asked.

I flipped to the page. "End of the chapter."

"Are you kidding me?!" Hi said, grabbing the book from me. "Aw man. That was an awful ending!"

"It's a cliffhanger. I didn't think it was that bad."

"Yeah, but you weren't the one still in danger of being killed!"

"Sure we were! We were on the boat, they could have sneak attacked us any minute."

"And I was in the woods, saving you guys asses by being the distraction!"

Shelton chose now to interject. "Who says you were being a distraction?"

"Me!" Hi said, throwing up his arms.

"Guys. Calm down. Let's just get back to the bunker. We can read our next chapter there." I said, a failed attempt to calm them down.

"Listen to Tory." Ben said, plucking the book from his hands.

"Thanks, Ben."

He half smiled, and finished tying up Sewee.

He still had the book.

"BLUE!"

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**A/N: So what did you think? Good? Bad? Half decent? Reply in a review! That would totally make my day :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hiya all. So I am sorry about my lack of updating in November; as I previously said, that was due to NaNoWriMo. To those who asked, yes, I did succeed (at 89,000 words!) but alas, I have not finished my novel. So I'll be working on that as well as this and my school work. I'll try to stick with my promise of updating weekly, but I'm not so sure that'll happen, as I already broke the "I'll update on Dec. 1" promise. And I'm sorry about that.**

**Also, in this chapter there will be several grammar mistakes because I haven't edited all too much. Sorry…**

**And another thing I apologize for: I forgot to put a disclaimer in my last chapter! For clarification, I DO NOT own the Virals series. If I did, my awesome level would go up an infinite amount.**

**And for the next chapter… (drumroll)... _. Oh right… should I be titling my chapters? If anybody wants me to, tell me and I will. But for now, on with the reading!**

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Finally, finally we were back at the bunker.

I was exhausted. And who, in their right mind, wouldn't be?

I had chased Ben all the way to the bunker, shouting insults at, well, all of them, the whole time. Then I had to chase him all the way around the bunker, through ivy, branches, and who-knows-what.

And just when I finally catch up with him, he decided to fight back. So after a very long (and very painful) wrestling session with Ben, I had managed to successfully grab hold of the book. And then he snatched it back.

Five way-too-short seconds of glory.

Why does Ben have to be so tall? Not that I'm short- if anything, the opposite. 5'5 and hoping for more. But Ben is 5'10, 5'11, something like that. Tall enough to make me have to jump for the book.

"Blue! Give! It! Back!"

"No." Flat out refusal.

"Benjamin Blue! Give it!"

"No."

Glare. Now what?

"If you ever want to have children…"

"No."

"Sorry?"

"Thank you for the apology."

"Blue!"

"No."

Groan. Sigh. Look of fury.

"Shelton! Hi! I need help!" Stupid thinking, on my part. Of course they would side with Ben!

"Sorry, Tor, I'm with Ben." Shelton moved to stand next to Ben, mimicking his crossed arm pose.

"SHELTON!"

"Sorry," Stupid Shelton.

I turned to Hi. Hopeful look. Puppy dog eyes. "Please?" Eyelash batting. Full tooth smiles. "Please?"

Hi snorted. "Good try. No."

I dropped the pretense and frowned. "Please."

"No." The three of them said in unison.

There was a moment of silence before I spoke next. "Do you guys practice that or something?" I said, thinking out loud.

They looked at each other with slight smiles and, in less synchrony responded: "No."

I shook my head, clucking my tongue in mock disappointment. "Aw… you lost it."

Hi snorted. "And you never had it."

I made a face at him. "Neither did you."

"Actually…"

Before we could get started on a full fledged argument, Shelton stepped in to intervene. "Okay. Guys. We all want to read the book. Right?"

Hi stepped in front of him and pushed his face into Shelton's. "Who made you mediator?" Shelton shoved him away, not replying. "Tory, let Ben read. If you're desperate, sit in his lap." I growled, taking Hi's place and shoving a finger in Shelton's chest. "If you…"

Shelton waved me away. "Just let Ben read. You read the first chapter, after all."

"It was a prologue!"

"Same thing," I opened my mouth to speak but Shelton shushed me again. "That doesn't matter. We can take turns reading, or something, okay?"

I backed away and sat on the rickety table. "Fine. But I claim next chapter." I was acting childish, and I knew it, but at that point I didn't really care.

Shelton shrugged. "Fine. Whatever."

I nodded once for confirmation, anger dying away. Nobody spoke for a couple more seconds. "Well? What are we waiting for? Get reading."

Hi snickered under his breath. I shot him a sharp look. "What's so funny?"

Hi rolled his eyes. "Get reading. Come on, how nerdy could you get?"

I rose from my perch on the table, hands curled into fists by my sides. "Hiram…" He backed away, hands up. "Sorry, sorry! We! I meant we!"

Threatening smile. "If you go there again,"

"Loosen your corset, lady, just let the man read." He said, lazily slouching against the wall. I growled, but let it go. He needed a little self confidence.

Ben coughed into his hand, nestling himself next to Hi. Shelton shrugged his way out of a cannon groove and arranged himself across from Ben. They all looked up at me. With a dramatic sigh, I stepped across the creaking boards to fit myself across from Hi, completing the circle. "Just get reading, will you?" I muttered. Three identical smirks greeted me.

**Chapter 1**

**The whole thing started with a dog tag.**

"Whoa whoa whoa. Wait up. A dog tag? As in a dog- dog tag?" Hi asked, holding up a hand. Shelton shook his head. "Nah. Well, maybe. I'm thinking more military ID."

Well. That was quick. I mentally sighed. This would take a long, long, time.

**Well, a monkey with a dog tag.**

"Aha!" Hi said, jumping up and pointing his finger at Shelton. "It is a dog- dog tag!" Shelton rolled his eyes. "Dude, calm down, that's not even a real term." Hi shrugged, dropping back onto the floor. "Whatever. Close enough."

Shelton snorted. "And besides, just because the monkey has it doesn't mean it's a 'dog-dog tag'"

Hi jumped up yet again. "Aha! You said it!"

Shelton waved him away. "Whatever."

**Take your pick.**

"Oh how very kind." This time, nobody bothered to respond.

**I should have known it would be trouble. Should have sensed it.**

"Jesus Christ Almighty, would she stop with the sensing! How the hell would Tory have sensed this thing anyways?" Hi said, cupping his hands up to the roof.

"Hi, calm down, it's just foreshadowing." I said.

"Bad foreshadowing." He muttered.

"Hey!" I said sharply "We're hardly three sentences in!" For some reason, I was feeling rather protective of the book.

"Five, actually." Shelton corrected. Thankfully, Ben continued before anybody could object.

**But I wasn't as perceptive then.**

"Cut it out, Tory." Hi mumbled.

"It's not me." That was bothering me, the way that they were all just assuming that the character was me. There was no proof. At all.

**I hadn't evolved. Yet.**

"Ooo, Tory's evolving."

"Shut it, Hi."

**Wait.**

"I ain't goin' nowhere."

"And we ain't goin' nowhere in this book either. Shut up, Hi." Ben finally intercepted, knocking Hi on the head with the book. "Let me read."

**I'm getting ahead of myself. It was a typical Saturday morning at home, though my home is anything but typical. It's unique-bizarre even. Which means I fit right in.**

"Sounds like Tory to me."

"Shut up Hi!" Three voices at once. Finally! Somebody was on my side! Or I was on someone's side. I shook the thoughts from my head. That was so not the point.

**There are lots of interesting things about where I live, if you like the outdoors as much as I do. Not a nature lover? You might find my hood a bit…out of touch.**

**Because I live on a deserted island. Well, a pretty empty one, anyway.**

**Morris Island.**

"Aha! Finally! Proof! This is you, Victoria Brennan! You!" Hi cried, jumping from his seat. He had obviously been itching to say this.

I rolled my eyes. "They live on Morris Island. Who knows, this might be a different Morris Island, or take place in the future, or the past, or is in a totally different fantasy land. This isn't proof at all, Hi."

Shelton nodded "It's true."

Hi groaned. "Why?! Why must you all be against me? Why?!"

Ben shook his head, a small smile on his face.

**My home away from normal homes. The end of the line. Nowheresville. The back-ass of Charleston.**

"See? It is our Morris Island. And, if I may, you have used all of those terms to describe Morris at one point or another."

"Hi, just because I have said those before doesn't mean that it is me, or that it is in Charleston South Carolina."

"But they said it!"

"Who knows how many Charleston's there are out there?"

"How many Charleston's do you know, Tory?"

Good point. Now, on to a different topic…

**It's not so bad, if you aren't prone to loneliness. Which I am, but whatever. I've come to appreciate the legroom.**

**"**Like you, Tory…"

Morris isn't imposing, as islands go, only four square miles.

"This. Is. Our. Morris. Island!" Hi proclaimed.

"Fine. There is absolutely nothing more for me to argue about." Damn you Shelton! Why'd you have to give in?

Hi raised his hands to the roof, cheering. "Finally! Somebody is on my side!"

**The northern half is an unremarkable strip of rolling, sandy hillocks. Then, in the middle, sand hills rise thirty-to-forty feet, marching south as the island widens. The western reach consists of dense marshland bordered by shallow tidal bays. To the east, the boundless Atlantic Ocean.**

I sighed. Hi was right. There was no way this was any different Morris Island. I surrender.

"There is no way that that is not Morris Island." Hi said smugly.

"Fine. I admit it. I accept defeat."

Hi grinned, and crowed. "At last! The all powerful Tory Brennan accepts my surrender terms!"

"Uh… no. Besides, wouldn't you be accepting my surrender terms?"

He waved me off. "Details, details."

**Dunes, swamps, beaches. And quiet. Plenty of quiet.**

**Only two modern structures exist on our teeny little landmass. One is the complex in which I live; the other is a road. The road.**

"The road indeed." I said, rearranging my legs to a more comfortable position. "Seriously, that thing is the only connector to the outside world."

Hi coughed into his hand. "Ahem? And you were saying about not interrupting?"

I rolled my eyes. "Sorry, sorry. Carry on."

Silence.

"Ben?" I looked over to him. "Uh… Ben?"

He snapped up to look at me. "Sorry. What did you… what did you say?" Stuttering. Did Ben stutter? Ben never- and I mean never- stutters. Ever.

"You okay?"

He nodded, strange look on his face. "Right. Sorry. I was reading ahead. I'll just… I'll just read." He buried his head back into the book.

**Our only connector to the outside world.**

**"**I just said that."

Ben shook his head. "No, that's what the book said."

"Let me see that." I bent over and grabbed the book from his hands, tempted to keep it. And there it said. Right there.

"Huh. That's weird."

"Weird indeed." Hi muttered.

Reluctantly, I handed the book back to Ben.

"And it get's even weirder," He agreed.

"What…?"

"Just let me read."

**It's a one-lane, unmarked, narrow strip of pavement that winds south through dunes and marshes before leaving Morris and crossing Lighthouse Creek to Rat Island. Eventually the blacktop meets the highway at Folly Beach, then passes Goat Island on the way into the city.**

"Rat. Goat. Folly. Jesus, who picked out those names? Delightful. Just delightful." I said. Hi snickered. "Ask the Charleston Historical Society. They would know."

Shelton nodded slowly. "Yeah. You know what? I think I'll look that up. I'm curious."

"Nerd," Hi said in a sing song voice.

Ben looked up, staring at all of us. "This is just… this is just freaky." He said, shuddering.

**Rat. Goat. Folly. You'll have to ask the Charleston Historical Society who picked such delightful names.**

"Freaky indeed." Shelton said, wide eyed, tugging at his ear lobe. Hi and I chose to remain silent.

**There are dozens more.**

**It was all new to me. The year before, I'd never been south of Pennsylvania. Then I crashed into my dad's life.**

Freaky was correct. This was starting to sound eerily similar to me…

**About my "roommate"...**

**Christopher "Kit" Howard is my father.**

"What the fuck?" Hi said, standing up to grab the book from Ben.

"Holy crap, is this for real?!" Shelton said.

I simply sat there, shocked. What was this? Some kind of crazy stalker? A really messed up prank? Some kind of weird coincidence? A book written from the future? Okay, I admit that the last one was a bit extensive. And there's no proof of a stalker, and I don't believe in coincidence. So what did that leave?

"Yeah. That's the weird part." Ben said, taking the book back from Hi.

Hi stared at him like he was crazy. "Dude! Are you nuts?! This is insane! This is beyond weird! This is… this is… this is psychic! This is mental! This is… this is paranormal!"

Shelton snickered, despite the situation. "Man, I think even that is a bit much."

"Well what else could it be?!" Hi exclaimed, standing up.

Shelton shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe… hey…. wait…." He eyed Hi warily. "Ha, I get it! This is just another one of your jokes!" He laughed dryly. "Well, very funny. Now, cut it out."

Hi shook his head furiously. "No, no, no! Of course not! This isn't a prank! I wouldn't do something like that!"

Shelton snorted, rising to his feet. "Sure… Remember the time you convinced Ben and I that you were actually the new Doctor Who and needed our help to save the planet?"

Hi laughed. "Oh yeah, I remember that! But I was, like, twelve, and that was actually funny! This…" He sobered up. "This is just flat out weird."

"And you're saying that that wasn't?"

He tilted his head to the left. "Weird and funny."

Shelton shook his head. "Weird but not funny. To you, maybe, but not us."

Hi clasped his hands together. "Look, I didn't do it! I swear!"

I held up a hand to stop Shelton from responding. "Guys, calm down. Ben, take the book," I handed it to Ben, albeit reluctantly. "And everybody sit back down." I tugged on Shelton's sleeve, pulling him back to the floor. "The only way we'll ever figure out what this is all about is by reading it, okay?" The words came out smoothly, and much calmer than I had expected. Inside, I was exploding with nervous excitement.

Shelton and Hi grudgingly agreed, and the settled back down. After much paper shuffling, Ben came to the correct page.

**Kit and I have known that fact for exactly six months.**

Six months… so this takes place four months in the future. Okay then…

**That's when I moved to South Carolina to live with him.**

The sentence brought back a million memories. A million really, really bad memories. Oh God no. Please. No. Don't go into this. Don't. Don't.

**I had no choice, after what happened to Mom.**

I let out a little squeak at the word "Mom" and instantly covered my mouth with both hands. Tears welled up in the corners of my eyes, threatening to explode.

Ben looked hesitantly up at me. "Are you sure you want me to continue?"

Without removing my hands from my mouth, I nodded. Reluctantly, he did.

**After the accident.**

Oh Goddamnit. Tears dripped down my cheeks, over my hands. I ducked my head, letting my hair shield my face hoping that nobody noticed.

**I'm not sure why, but Mom never told Kit about me. He had no idea he was a father. Had been one, in fact, for the last fourteen years.**

**Kit's still not over the shock. I see it on his face every now and then. He'll wake from a nap, or come up for air after a long stretch of work, and literally jump when he notices me. I see it register: That's my daughter. I have a daughter who is fourteen and lives with me. I'm her father.**

I took three deep breaths. They weren't going to talk about Mom. Thank God. I hurriedly wiped the tears from my eyes with the heel of my hand. Right. Calm down, Tory. The boys looked away, pretending they hadn't seen.

**Same shock for me, Pops. I working through it, too**.

**How do I describe my newfound dad? Kit it thirty-one, a marine biologist and research professor at the institute on Loggerhead. A workaholic.**

I nodded, shaking my hair back. "That's right, you know. I never get to see him anymore."

The boys jumped a little in their seats, as if surprised I was still there. "Oh… oh yeah. Right." Shelton said, hurriedly.

I rolled my eyes. Boys.

**He's also a clueless parent.**

**Maybe it's all too new- you know, the astonishment of learning you have a half-grown kid. Or maybe Kit remembers his own wild youth.**

"Kit? He had a wild youth?" Shelton said.

"Mhm. Apparently he had a motorcycle and tattoo and everything. Aunt Tempe says that he got arrested once or twice, too."

Hi whistled. "Badass."

"Not really."

"You call that-"

Ben continued reading.

**In any case, he has no idea what to do with me. One day he chats me up like one of his buddies, and the next he treats me like a child.**

**To be honest, I own my share of the blame for things being sticky. I'm no saint.**

"That you aren't, Tory Brennan." Hi said, grinning. "Saint Victoria… you know, I think that there _was_ a saint called Victoria…"

Shelton nodded slowly, racking his brains for information. "Oh yeah, there was. Not much is known about her, but she had a sister… I think her name was Anna or Alia or… Oh yeah, it was Anatolia! Or Analia. Or… that doesn't even matter. They refused marriage or something. She was executed because she wasn't faithful enough to Christianity. I think." He scratched his head. "I think that was all a myth, though. I'm not sure."

Hi rolled his eyes. "Who cares. Tory is going to die because she isn't faithful enough. That's all that matters."

I flicked the back of his head. "Liar. That was Saint Victoria. We've already established that I am not a Saint."

**And I'm just as lost about having a father.**

"You are?" Hi asked. I shrugged. "Well, I did go fourteen years without one."

"Oh. Yeah. I forgot about that."

I snickered. "Hi, that's what the book has been talking about the whole time!"

**So here we are. Together. Smack dab in the middle of nowhere.**

"Well, not exactly…"

"Would it be too much to ask you to shut up?"

"Yes. Yes it would be."

**That day, I was classifying seashells by species.**

"Corn, corn, corny," Hi sang.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with classifying seashells by species!" I defended, cheeks flushing red.

Hi raised his eyebrows. "You actually do that?"

I blushed. "Maybe."

Hi put a hand to his heart and acted mock sober. "I'm afraid…" Sniff " That our dear Tory has come down with a severe case of corn-itis."

I snorted. "Corn-itis? Really? Come on, you've got to come up with something better than that."

"You try!"

**Corny? Maybe. But I'm a science nut. I live for figuring things out, finding answers. Mom always joked that it was hard raising a kid who was smarter than most college professors.**

"I've always thought myself bright, but smarter than most college professors…" I trailed off in thought.

"Yeah, I wouldn't go that far." Shelton said. "Most college professors are actually smart."

It took a while for that to get through my head. "Shelton!" All of them laughed.

**My take? I just do what I do.**

**Piles of shells littered the kitchen table. Sundials. Shark's Eyes. Turkey Wings. Recently cleaned and buffed, they gleamed in the early morning sunlight.**

**I removed a new specimen from the bucket at my feet, making sure not to dribble bleach-water onto my clothes. It was a Scotch Bonnet, easily recognizable: white, egg-shaped, with red and brown spots circling its grooved outer surface.**

"Scotch Bonnet: Semicassis granulata. Aren't those really rare?" Hi asked.

"Stop showing off." I said. "But yeah, they are. That's what I thought, anyways."

Pleased with the rare find, I set it aside to dry.

"I was right."

"Child."

"Hey!"

**Reach. Pull.**

**My next draw was a mystery. Ark? Cockle? Both clams are abundant on the South Carolina coast.**

**Despite having soaked in bleach for almost two hours, the shell's exterior was covered with caked-on debris. Barnacles and encrusted silt obscured all detail.**

"Barwnaclee."

**Excellent. I'd been looking for an excuse to use my power tools.**

"You have power tools?" Ben asked, looking up from the book. He shook his head. "Never mind, of course you do." What did he mean by that? I shrugged. "Not really."

**They were a gift from my great-aunt Tempe.**

Hi 'ahhed'. "Figures."

I shook my head. "Nope. I haven't even met her yet. Kit promised to have a get together with Grandmother Harry and Aunt Tempe in a week or something."

Shelton grinned. "And how excited are you?"

I laughed. "I was shocked when I found out! I mean, I'm related to Dr. Temperance Brennan! She's a world famous forensic anthropologist! It's unbelievable!"

Three smirks in my direction.

"Hey. You would be excited too. She is my absolute idol!"

**You may have heard of her. I was shocked when I found out. I'm related to Dr. Temperance Brennan, the world famous forensic anthropologist. She's kind of my idol. When Kit first told me, I didn't believe him, but his story checked out. Tempe's sister, Harry, is my grandmother.**

"Jesus Christ. That is exactly what you just said, Tory."

"I know. Freaky."

**So there's a celebrity in my family. A renowned scientist. Who knew?**

**Okay, at that point, I had only met Aunt Tempe once.**

"After the meeting."

"Yes, Hi, it is. The power tools were a pretty good hint, you know."

**But that wasn't her fault. After all, like Kit, she'd only known of my existence for six months.**

**Aunt Tempe's job is pretty intense. She identifies corpses. Seriously. A dead body might be burned, or decomposed, or mummified. It could be maggot city, or just a skeleton. Doesn't matter. Aunt Tempe determines who the person is. Was. Then she and the cops try to figure out what happened to them.**

**Not bad, if you've got a steady stomach. I think I do.**

"But do you?" Hi waggled his eyebrows in my direction. Shelton cuffed the back of his head.

Learning about my aunt helped me understand myself. Why I have to answer every question, solve every riddle. Why I'd rather read about fossilized raptors or global warming-

"Nerd," Hi coughed into his fist. I glared at him. "And you wouldn't?"

"There are much better things to do than read about fossilized raptors and global warming." He retorted, closing his eyes in an uptight expression.

**than to go shopping for handbags.**

"Like that!"

**I can't help it. It's in my DNA.**

"Things like that don't actually pass on, you know," Shelton said, cutting me a look I couldn't interpret.

"Who knows?" I defended.

"Me and the rest of the scientific community."

"Yeah. Right."

**Aunt Tempe's specialty is teasing facts from bones. What better way to use her gift than to clean dead mollusk shells?**

**That's all shells are, anyway. Bones.**

**Digging a Dremel cordless rotary tool from my kit, I attached the bristle brush head and gently abraded the encrustations on the shell's surface. After a few moments I switched to a sanding drum head to remove more dirt.**

**Once the larger barnacles were gone, I grabbed my Neytech micro sandblaster, hooked its line to a small air compressor, and delicately bathed the seashell with aluminum oxide sand.**

Hi whistled. "Fancy."

"Not really. This stuff is pretty basic." I relied.

Ben snorted. "Not to the average American kid."

Shelton tilted his head. "Average American kids don't live on abandoned military forts on near empty islands."

"True, true."

**Next, I used a dental pick to scrape off the final pesky particles.**

"A dental pick?" Hi asked, incredulous.

"It works."

He snorted. "Yeah. Right."

"Really, it does!"

"Mhm. I retract my previous statement about your tools being fancy. Dental picks…"

"Dental picks are wonderful tools!"

"Fine. I retract my previous statement-"

"You already did."

"The sentence after my previous sentence. Dental picks are fantastically fancy. Expensive, shiny, high tech stuff."

"Finally, you're getting it."

**After washing away the remaining grit with a Water Pik, I went back to the rotary tool, this time with the polishing head. Done.**

**The shell glistened on the table before me. A spotted tan oval with a purplish interior. Four inches long. Prominent radial ribs running from the hinge to the edge.**

"Dinocardium Robustum!" Hi sang, putting out jazz hands.

"Just let them check." Shelton mumbled.

**I double-checked my guide to the South Carolina coast, confirming my guess. A Giant Heart Cockle. Dinocardium Robustum.**

"Haha!" Hi declared.

"I never doubted you." Shelton replied

"Or Tory."

"Or Tory." He corrected.

**Mystery solved, I placed the shell in its proper pile and dipped back into the bucket. Empty.**

**Time for something else.**

**I decided to fix a snack. Slim pickings, since Kit hadn't been to the Piggly Wiggly in over a week. I suppressed a pang of irritation.**

"Don't suppress it! Be irritated!"

I growled at him. "Try suppressing your voice, instead, or I might start suppressing you."

"You ask too much of me."

**The supermarket was located thirty minutes away on James Island; it's not like he passed it every day.**

**Island refugee living. It's a blast.**

"No. No it is not."

"Shut up, Hi!"

**I settled for carrot sticks. Old ones. Addicted, I popped a Diet Coke.**

Hi mock gasped. "Ah! She drinks caffeine!" He tsked. "Bad girl, Tory, bad girl."

Three voices as one: "Hypocrite."

**I know what you're thinking. But I do try to eat healthy. Just leave me my caffeine. The heart wants what it wants.**

**I checked my phone. They were late. No text, either.**

"Who's late?" Shelton asked quizzically.

"Us, I suppose." Ben replied.

"I would never be late!" Hi declared, putting a hand to his chest.

**I considered my options. Zilch on TV. No surprise. Nothing called out from my unread book pile. The Internet was a snooze.**

"Impossible." Shelton said. "You just don't know where to look."

"Excuse me?! I very well do know where to look!"

**Zero news on Facebook.**

**No homework that weekend. It was late May, and most of the teachers seemed as anxious as the kids to end the year gracefully.**

"Always are." Ben muttered.

"Usually we have homework, though."

"True, true."

**I was stuck. Only fourteen, I couldn't exactly hop in the car and take off. Plus, where would I go? TO hand with my pals in town? Please. Everybody who likes me is an island refugee, too.**

"See, she does mean us!" Hi said.

"Not necessarily." Shelton retorted.

"Who else lives here?"

"Adults?" Ben suggested.

"Lame-o."

**That left local options. Limited, to say the least.**

**Where were they anyway?**

**Have I mentioned that my block is the most remote strip of housing in Charleston? On Earth? No one else lies anywhere near us. Most maps don't even acknowledge that Morris Island is inhabited. Our whole neighborhood consists of ten townhomes built inside a single 430-foot reinforced concrete structure. Forty souls total. That's it. Nothing else.**

"Who moved out?" Ben asked without looking up.

"I think Jessica Robertson is thinking about leaving. She got a job in, like, Canada or something." Hi replied.

We all looked at him strangely.

"What?! I've got a nosy Mom, it's not my fault!"

**From our place it's a twenty-minute drive until you glimpse the first road sign. At that point you're still far from civilization, but on the right track. My friends and I usually skip the road and travel by boat.**

**Impressed? You should be. After all, how many people do you know who live in a converted military barracks?**

"Nobody nose." Hi said, tapping his nose.

"Bad pun. Very, very bad pun." Shelton said, bopping Hi's head.

**And I'm not talking this century. This building is super old. During the Civil War, Morris Island guarded the southern approach to Charleston Harbor. The Confederate Army built a stronghold called Fort Wagner to block access to the island's northern tip. Good call. The rebels had big honking guns up there.**

Hi laughed rather abruptly. "Honking! Ha! Honk honk! Honk honk! Got your conk!" He squeezed Ben's nose for each honk.

Ben glared at him. "What, exactly, are you doing?"

Hi laughed even harder. "Got yer conk, got yer conk! Honk! Honk! Honk!"

Shelton raised his eyebrows, and caught my eye. "Am I missing something?" He mouthed. I shrugged. Who nose.

Meanwhile, Ben had shoved Hi off, and resulted in a very short wrestling match, and Ben now had Hi in a headlock.

"Let go of me! I don't like you like that!"

Ben laughed, pulling him into a very hard noogie.

"Ow. That is currently all I can say." Hi muttered, flapping his hands.

Shelton snorted. "Guys, I hate to disturb this brotherly bonding, but really, I wanna hear what happens next."

Hi nodded fiercely. "Uh huh! Listen to Shelly!"

Ben rolled his eyes and released Hi, picking the book back up and retaining his seat in the circle. "Right. Got it. But in my defense, he was tugging my nose."

Shelton and I laughed, as Hi scrambled back, mumbling about Ben and impossible strength.

"Where was I?" Ben muttered.

"Something about hon-" I glanced at Hi. Not worth the risk. "Something about big guns."

"Oh. Right."

**Wagner straddled the only path the Yanks could use to get to them.**

**Fort Wagner, Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island, and Fort Sumter, a man made hunk of concrete in the middle of the harbor, formed the core of Charleston's defense against attack by sea. In 1863, the Union army tried to storm Wagner. The 54th Massachusetts Infantry, one of America's first regiments of black soldiers, led the attack. It was brutal. And, unfortunately, a total bust. Even their commander was killed.**

**I watched a movie about it, once. I think Denzel won an Oscar. He earned it, made me cry.**

"You cried?" Shelton asked, curiously. I nodded. "It was a good movie."

**And I don't often do that. Maybe I was supposed to root for the Charleston soldiers, but I'm a Massachusetts girl. Besides, I'm not siding with slave owners, no way. Sorry. Go Union.**

"You are a traitor to your people, Tory." Hi said, regaining position.

"Did you miss the part about my being a Massachusetts girl?"

**Fort Wagner was abandoned after the war, but the basic structure survived. Now Morris Island is a nature preserve held in trust by Charleston University. That's my father's employer. Ditto for everyone else living out here. When the university converted the old Fort Wagner barracks, it offered free housing to faculty working on Loggerhead Island, its offshore research facility. Loggerhead is even smaller and more remote than Morris.**

**My dad jumped at the offer. Ever try to live on a professor's salary?**

"No. No I have not." Hi said.

"Actually…" Shelton started.

"Everybody, shut up and let me read."

"Yes, Mama." Hi said in his most sarcastically polite voice.

**I continued to wait impatiently. I'd planned to go down to Folly Beach, but my ride was AWOL.**

**It felt like a no-show, so I decided to go for a run, one of the things for which Morris provides a great venue. I climbed to my room to change.**

"Ooh, are we going to get any nude girl talk here? 'Cause I'm all ears."

I glared at him. "What do you think, pervert?"

He scratched his head, pretending to think. "Uh… I'm not sure…. oh. Yes."

I leaned over to smack his head. "No. No pedophilic action here."

**Every room in our little world is identical. Four stories tall, each goes up more than out. Any variation comes from personal taste in decorating and allocation of space.**

**In our case, the bottom floor is an office and single car garage. On the second floor, you've got the kitchen, dining, and sitting areas. Floor three has two bedrooms- Kit's in back, mine in front overlooking the commons.**

**Our top floor has a large room we use as Kit's media center. I call it the Man Cave. It opens onto an outdoor roof deck with an incredible ocean view. All in all, not too shabby, though four flights of stairs can be killer.**

**While lacing my Adidas, I glanced out my bedroom window. A familiar figure was bounding up the jetty from the docks. Hiram, at top speed. Which, to be blunt, isn't impressive.**

"Hey! Meanie." Hi made a face.

I shrugged. "It's the truth."

"Alas, she's true." Shelton said, scooting closer to me and putting a hand on his heart.

Ben let out a long suffering sigh. "Guys, you know, that was the furthest we got."

Shelton scotched back and all of us looked up at Ben, confused.

"What?"

"Whatcha' talkin' 'bout?"

"I don't get it."

"Four paragraphs without interruption. It's a record."

I snapped my jaw shut, closing my eyes. "That's pathetic."

Shelton nodded. "Indeed."

"This'll take forever."

"Yeah. No thanks to you, Hiram." Shelton glared at him.

"Hey, hey, hey, why're you looking at me?"

I snickered. "Let me think. Uh…. oh yeah. You were the one interrupting the whole time? I think that would be it."

Hi shrugged. "Freedom of speech."

Ben punched his shoulder. "Not that free."

**Hi was puffing hard,**

"I do not puff!"

"Sure you do."

"Do not!"

**chugging**

"I don't chug, either!"

"In your dreams, perhaps."

**up the incline toward the main building, his cheeks were flushed and his hair was pasted to his face.**

"They paint the wrong impression of me." Hi muttered.

"Nah, it's true." Shelton said.

**Hi does not run for pleasure.**

"That, on the other hand, is correct."

"Aye."

"Aye?"

"Aye."

**I grabbed my keys and bolted.**

**Something was up.**

Ben snapped the book close. "The End."

Hi stood, gaping. "What're you talking about? That can't be the end!"

Shelton smirked. "The end of the chapter, you dummy."

Hi frowned. "Bad ending either way."

I shook my head. "For a chapter ending, that actually wasn't so bad."

Ben nodded, standing by my side. "And there are 72 more chapters to go, including the epilogue."

I stretched, yawning. "Holy shizernoodles. That's going to take forever. I mean, look outside." I popped my head under the entryway and looked outside. The sky was a deep, orange and blue color. "It's pretty, but not too good on time."

Ben wormed his way out, rolling his neck as he stood on a stump. "Yeah. Somebody should take a picture of that. Anyone got a phone?"

I tugged my phone out from my pocket. "Here." I handed it to him. "Where's yours?"

He scrunched up his nose. "Forgot it at home."

I ahhed and stood behind him as he took pictures.

Unexpectedly, Hi popped out from behind us and poked us each in the back of the head. "Hey peeps. Wassup?"

Slowly, I turned to face him. "I was just with you."

He nodded. "Mhm. It was a great date. Just lovely. And what wonderful steak. And, oh, those roses were simply delightful to stare at."

"And didn't you find the potatoes just magnificent? The seasoning was marvelous." I said, playing along.

Hi nodded. "Oh course. When should be get together again?"

I snorted. "Let me think… I'm available on… ah… never?" I whirled around to face Ben.

"You done?"

He nodded silently, not looking away from the sky as he handed me back my phone. "Yeah. Here."

I took it, peering up at the dimming sky. "It really is beautiful."

Ben nodded, not blinking, as if in a trance. For a couple more moments, we just stared up at it. And then Shelton slid out. "Hey, guys, I just realized something." Ben snapped out of the trance, and looked down at Shelton, slightly flushed, as if embarrassed.

"Yeah?"

"Who's taking home Virals? I mean, it definitely can't be Tory."

I glanced at him. "Hey! Why not?"

"Isn't it obvious? You're going to read ahead, and that simply isn't fair."

I made a face. "Who cares about fair?"

"Me. You. Ben. Hi."

"How'd I get involved in this?" Hi said, coming out from seemingly nowhere.

Shelton shushed him. "You were here. Anyways, we all have to promise not to read ahead in this, okay?"

Hi bobbed his head twice. "Sure. No problemo. I promise."

Ben shrugged. "Sure."

Shelton glared.

"Fine, fine. I promise." He made quotation marks with his fingers. Shelton nodded, moving on to me. I sighed. "Must I?"

"Yes."

"Fine…"

He looked expectantly at me. "I promise. Cross my heart and hope to die. Stick a needle in my eye and all that."

Hi opened his mouth to suggest something that I would most certainly not appreciate. I hurriedly continued. "And no, I won't do any of that literally. Sorry."

Hi feigned disappointment, then grinned. "So when do we keep reading?" And then, softer. "God I sound like such a nerd."

"You are a nerd, nerd. Get used to it."

Shelton shrugged. "Tomorrow, I guess."

Ben and I nodded our agreement. Hi pouted. "We're going to spend our entire Sunday reading? That's as bad as going to Temple!"

"Only this is actually fascinating."

"Only because it's about you! They make me sound fat and un-athletic! They entirely forget about my eight pack and basketball sized biceps!"

I snorted. "In your dreams."

"And in real life." He added.

Shelton shushed us all. "Everybody, shut up. This is important."

We quieted, letting him speak. He took a deep breath before continuing. "Okay. So. We all really want to read this, right?"

Ben and I nodded again, Hi disagreed. "Well, not really. Again, they-"

"They speak the truth. But that isn't the point. We all want to read this, and that's that."

"You can't force me to agree with you!"

"I think I just did."

Hi had nothing to say back at that.

"Okay. Good. So it definitely can't go home with Tory, because she'll read ahead."

I nodded, albeit reluctantly. "True, I guess."

Shelton gave me a tight smile in agreement. "And I know that I'd read ahead as well. So Ben? Hi?"

Hi stepped forward, eager. "I'll take it, I'll take it!" He exclaimed, jumping up and down. I started to disagree, but Shelton beat me to it.

"Okay, on the other hand, no. Ben?"

Hi pouted, but stepped back. Ben crossed his arms and shook his head. "No."

Shelton raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Because, believe it or not, I want to read this too."

Shelton's eyebrows quirked, then returned to normal. "Yeah, okay. That makes sense. So where do we keep it?"

Ben smiled. "The Bunker?"

Shelton groaned. "What if it get's lost? Or stolen?"

Hi snorted. "Who knows about the bunker? How would anybody steal it? And how the hell would it get lost in here?"

"Yeah, it's true. Just put it on the table. We'll continue reading tomorrow morning."

Shelton looked at up suspiciously. "And you all swear that you won't sneak out to read it?"

"Curfew, remember?" Hi told Shelton.

"Ben and Tory don't have one."

I sighed. "You really don't trust us that much? I swear, we won't read ahead. Right, Ben?" Ben nodded confirmation. "See?"

Shelton pursed his lips together. "Fine." He ducked back inside the bunker. He came out with his hands above his head. "Happy?"

"Yes."

"Yep."

"Uh-uh."

Shelton squinted at Hi. "Was that a yes or a no?"

"What?! It's just not fair to let the table read it."

"Hiram." Three voices as one.

Jinx!


	3. Chapter 3

**Hiya! So I apologize for updating late (again) and about the error in Chapter 2. I was trying to go as canon as possible and make Ben not get his boat until two weeks before the book started. But then I remembered that they had to have some form of private transportation to and from Loggerhead, so I'll just skip over that little detail and say that they had it before Tory arrived. Oh, and also, I apologize if parts from the story weren't bolded. That was because for some reason when I copy and paste from Google doc it doesn't take any of the formatting, so I had to re bold it on this screen and I didn't do that very thoroughly. **

**That aside, I'd like to thank everybody who reviewed, and special thanks to V6 Trick-Shot.**

**Disclaimer: Come on. Do I really need to say this? Would I be so extremely obsessive about my own book? Would I think myself so amazing that I go crazy whenever my own books come out? Think about it. Unless I had an ego so large that it wouldn't fit on my head, I couldn't own Virals. Which, thank you very much, I don't.**

* * *

After we left the bunker, I ate a quick dinner alone. Kit was at work still, of course, but that was perfectly fine with me. Left me to think about Virals instead of engaging in awkward conversation with Kit.

The book had been worrying me ever since I left it in the bunker. I kept feeling as though it would go missing and I wouldn't ever see it again. Of course, this was ridiculous- nobody else knew of the bunker but us. Right?

I tried to shake those thoughts away, but for some reason they simply wouldn't leave. They were embedded in my head as vividly as my ABC's. What was wrong with me? I shuddered as an unnaturally cold breeze swayed through the open window.

But there were more important thoughts. What did this book mean anyways? Did it really tell our future? Was somebody warning us of something? And who was this Kathy Reichs person anyways?

One thing stood out most among all of the other troubles- what was the conflict? Every book has to have a plot- besides Animal Farm, of course, but that was just special. But really; what was the conflict? What was the girl on the cover running from? What was the… Wait…

Was there a back? Was there a summary on the back? I stood, tipping my bowl of lumpy spaghetti over. I cursed under my breath as I inspected the cut across the back of my hand. Blood was beading up on the edges. I walked over to the sink to clean up the mess, rinsing it under the faucet.

Anyways, it was too late to go back to the bunker to check it out. I had already promised and I intended on keeping it.

* * *

I went to bed early that night, only seven thirty, going with the theory that if I slept earlier the morning would come quicker. Instead, it seemed to come slower. I stayed up all night, staring at the ceiling. What was going to happen tomorrow? What would the next chapter bring?

It came to the point that I gave up trying to sleep. Kit wasn't home yet, and I had the feeling that he would be staying on Loggerhead overnight. Was that even allowed? I sighed, swinging my feet over the edge of my bed.

I didn't know where I was going, just that it was somewhere other than here. The beach, maybe?

I stalked over to the edge of the stairs, steps light and quiet.

As a last minute thought I scribbled a note down for Kit in case he came home, telling him where I was, then slipped into a pair of shoes and headed out, enjoying the delicate crunch of gravel and sand underneath my feet. The moon shone high in the sky, stars twinkling above, as if winking at the suspense I was feeling under my skin.

Ridiculous; besides, when had such poetic thoughts entered my brain?

I crossed the lawn, glimmering with early morning dew. The grass was a dark, richly colored green in the midnight gloom, the only large green space around, the only barrier between me and the sea. Beyond that were the curving palmetto palms, the only thing blocking the ocean from my sight. As I walked forward a sliver of white and blue, made it's way to my sight.

I let slid out of my shoes as I approached the shore, letting my bare feet wander along the sides of the beach, holding my shoes in one hand and my socks in another. With each step I dug my toes into the sand, warm and sticky. Waves lapped gently at the shore, white and frothy. Calm winds wavered the air, early summer heat making the air slightly humid despite the late darkness. So different from my Massachusetts home, where the late spring days would still be pleasantly cool. Perfect for sailing on the Cape. It was Mom's favorite time of year.

Mom… That was a raw wound that I tried not to scratch. And I would continue trying not to scratch it. I urged my mind onto other things. Happy things. Sandals I had seen at a flea market. Paint colors I might like for my bedroom. Books I liked.

Books?

Virals.

I groaned and buried my head in my head. I was back at this. Again.

A few steps in front of the shore, I sat on a log under the palmetto palm. It curved up from the sand, a lone tree in the midsts of endless white sand. As I stared up at the sky, back pressed against the smooth texture of the tree, I thought back on the book. The same questions circled in my mind in a never ending cycle.

Why was it there on Loggerhead? Was there a reason for it being there? Who put it there? Why did they put it there? How come we found it? Coincidence? Who was Kathy Reichs? How did she know about us? Why was it told from my point of view, not Shelton, Hi, or Ben's? What was the conflict? When did this really take place? What was going to happen, anyways?

Crunch.

Crunch.

Crunch.

I jolted up from my seat, head whipping around as footsteps approached. A dark, short, figure slouched towards me at a comfortably slow pace. I stood, trying to make out the face.

"Hey, Tory." Shelton's voice floated over to reach me. I relaxed, falling back against the tree, lifting my feet over onto the log. "Shelton."

Shelton lifted a hand, coming to flop down on the patch of sand next to me. "I figured I'd find you here."

I nodded, swinging my feet back firmly onto the ground, digging my elbows into my knees and cupping my face in both hands. "Hey. What's up?"

He sighed, picking up a piece of driftwood. "Not much." He sighed again. "Actually, a lot of stuff."

I looked up at him curiously, then reverted back at the ground. "Oh."

"Yeah. It just won't get off my mind, ya know?"

I nodded into my hands, inspecting the damp, slightly-darker-than-normal sand beneath my feet.

"I mean, why the hell was it there, anyways?"

I sighed, stretching back. "I don't know. I just don't know. And, believe it, that infuriates me to no end."

He groaned, picking at the driftwood with both hands. Bits of bark drifted to the ground in soft, floating specks. "It's the same here. I just have so many questions about it. And there's one thing that's really, really bothering me."

"Hmm?" I fell back so that I was upside down, letting my hands skim the sand, seeing the small collection of palms behind me. The sky was growing a slightly pink outline around the fronds. Had I really been out here that long?

He continued as if I hadn't moved. "What happened?"

"What happened when?"

"You know. What's the conflict? What happened that made it great enough to become a book?"

I nodded, then realized he couldn't see me, and wriggled back into a normal sitting position. "You thought that too?"

He nodded, tossing the remains of the driftwood towards the ocean. A slow tide dragged it away, drowning it in a wave of foamy seaweed. "Yeah. I mean, what happened? And how did this Kathy Reichs person know?"

I shrugged. "How should I know?"

"Well, I have a theory."

I tilted my head backwards to face him. "Oh?"

"Yeah. I think that you are Ms. Kathy Reichs."

I thought about it before answering, twirling a piece of dried grass in my hand. "Me being Kathy Reichs. I guess..." I felt the thought in my mind, prodding it and poking it.

Shelton nodded, twiddling his fingers. "I know it might seem silly, but before you ridicule or lecture me, think on it. It's in your point of view, you found it and-"

I held a hand up, dropping the grass. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! I did not write this thing as a prank. No. No. No. I just found it. I didn't write it. If I did, why would I write about something as absurd as that, with us running around Loggerhead with gun-toting killers chasing our asses. Huh? Huh? And if I did, why would I have insisted that I read. Why would I be so damn possessive of my own book?"

Shelton held up both hands in surrender. "Whoa. Calm down, Tory. I didn't mean that you wrote it as a prank, just that maybe- just maybe- there's some weird science fiction time thing going on."

I raised my eyebrows and let out a snort of laughter. "Time?"

He sighed, pushing himself off of the ground. "Whatever. It's impossible anyways. See ya later." He stood and started walking back to the houses.

"Hey! Shelton! Wait!" I shouted. I stood, grabbing onto his arm. "Shelton, wait."

He shook my hand off, giving me a forced smile. "Nah. I need to get some rest. You should-"

"Just wait, would you? For me?"

He sighed and turned. "Fine."

I smiled. "Thanks."

Awk-ward Si-lence.

"So what were you saying about science fiction and time?"

He shrugged. "Nothing. It doesn't matter."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes. It. Does. Why else would I be asking you?"

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay."

He made his way back to the log and sat at my previous seat, leaving me to place myself on the floor. "So before you laugh and tell me this is ridiculous, hear me out, okay?"

I nodded. "Okay."

"Okay. So. Just taking off of science fiction and the Doctor and stuff, time isn't…"

"So you're talking about, like, time holes?"

"Would you stop interrupting?" He snapped.

I shrank back. "Sorry."

"Whatever. You were right, anyways. I'm just saying, no matter how impossibly sci-fi this may seem, it's a possibility. Sort of. Like, maybe you purposely dropped it in a time gap so we would pick it up because we would need to get it because something really, really drastic was going to happen."

I raised my eyebrows as he finished his speech, skeptical. "So you're saying that I might have come from the future and given it to my past self."

He shrugged. "Maybe."

"Wouldn't a handwritten notebook with my signature or a letter have made more sense?"

He shrugged again. "Yeah. But maybe you wanted to publish the tale or… something."

"Ah… okay. I'll keep that in mind. And if the Doctor drops by, say hello to him for me, will you?"

Shelton groaned. "See? I just shouldn't have told you."

"Nah, I was just joking."

"Of course you were just joking!"

"Sorry, Shelton. It just seems a bit… far fetched."

"I know it does. That's why I told you, and not Hi or Ben."

I nodded appreciatively. "Thank you."

He smiled, this time for real. "Thanks."

I raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you supposed to say 'you're welcome?'"

"You're welcome, and thank you for understanding? Good?"

"Sure."

"Good. Well, anyways, I should actually get some sleep. So should you."

He stood, waiting for me to join him. I waved him off. "Nah, you go ahead. I'll get back later."

"You sure?"

I nodded. "Yeah. See ya later."

"Bye."

I watched his figure retreat into the morning light, stippled patterns of pink and yellow contrasting so boldly it turned him into a silhouette.

I retook my seat under the tree, considering my options. Time… was that what this was all about? That seemed impossible, but Sheltons' theory made alarming sense. Was time part of it? I shook my head, leaning back to watch the sun rise even more clearly. Forget about that, Tory. Think about… about…

I stood and let out the loudest sound I could possibly holler. Birds squawked in the distance, a mass fluttering of feathers as the lifted off of their roosts as one. Afterwards, everything seemed eerily quiet. Even the ocean seemed like it had shied away in fright.

I groaned. This was impossible. How was I supposed to focus on anything besides that book? I shook once like a dog, trying to shake off thoughts like water. Alas, it wasn't that easy. I balled my hands into fists and punched the tree, wincing as the sting hit me. I rubbed my knuckles, then stomped down to the Bunker, feet hitting the ground like it was the sands fault for all of this. Why couldn't we have just not found it?!

I stormed into the Bunker, grabbing the book off of the floor and going into my favorite groove in the wall.

I would just read the back. That would be it.

"Well, well, well, our favorite leader has arrived."

I snapped up at the sound of the voice, to see Ben, Hi, and Shelton, all sitting on the rickety table with identical smirks on their faces.

"How did I miss you?" I said, a touch of anger in my voice.

Shelton snickered. "I've been here since, five. You were staring at the sky for the sky for, like, three hours."

I growled. "And you didn't bother to get me?"

He shrugged. "I figured you'd gone back to bed. But then Ben came and said you were just punching trees and figured we shouldn't bother you."

I turned on Hi. "What's your excuse?"

He snorted. "I've been here all night."

I stood when it hit me. "You read the book?!" I stormed over to where he sat and picked him up by the collar, shoving him against the wall. "You made us all promise we wouldn't!"

He raised his eyebrows, shoving me off of him. "Actually, Shelton did that."

"You agreed!"

He shrugged. "I kept my promise. I swear. I didn't read ahead."

I glared at him. "I don't trust you."

He shrugged again, pointing his chin at Shelton and Ben. "Ask them. The book was in the middle of the room, right where I left it."

I glanced at them.

"Yeah."

"It was weird. He was just staring at it like some sort of cat."

"You were both staring at it."

"Just to freak you out."

"It worked."

"I know."

"Guys!" I shouted. "Shut up! Did he, or didn't he read the book."

"No." They chorused.

I looked back at Hi, smirking against the wall. "I'd say sorry, but that expression ruined it."

"Meanie."

Nobody replied. All eyes went to the book. Silently, I placed myself in the middle of the room, the others forming a circle with me, Ben on one side, Shelton the other, Hi directly across. Just like last time.

**Outside, I waited for Hi to appear.**

Hi shook his head. "No, you didn't."

"Yeah, Tory, Hi and the rest of us waited for you to appear."

I groaned. "No, no, no! That's what the book said!"

"Oh."

"Oh indeed." I grumbled.

**I stood on the common fronting of our row of town homes. Sun pounded the grass. Half the size of a football field, our lawn is the only large green space around.**

**Beyond the common, palmetto palms curve up from the sand, defiant, determined to add character. The trees were the only objects breaking my view of the sea.**

**Hand-shading my eyes, I squinted westward. A soft morning haze shrouded the ocean, cutting visibility. Somewhere out there is Loggerhead, I thought. And Kit, working another weekend.**

"He works weekends?"

"Why else would I be here?"

**Out of sight, out of mind, I guess. Whatever. He rarely spent time with me.**

"Aw, is little ickle Tory feeling sad about not seeing her Daddy?"

I glared at him. "You would too, if you never saw either of your parents. Besides, didn't you see the 'whatever' part?"

Hi shrank back. "Sorry, Tor."

"Apology accepted.

**Still no Hi.**

"Always late, am I."

"Yes you are."

"Only because of my Mother."

"Aren't you a bit old to be babied by your Mom?"

"Never."

**Only May, but already temperatures were hitting the nineties.**

"It's always like that, Tory." Said Hi.

"You're forgetting I'm from Massachusetts."

"Oh. Yeah."

**The air was heavy with the smell of grass, salt marsh, and sun on concrete.**

**I admit it. I am a sweater.**

"Sweater! You're a sweater!"

I snorted. "Ha. Ha. Very funny."

"Would you mind if I wore you?"

"Yes. Yes I would."

**I sweat.**

"Sweater!"

**I began doing it then. How do these Southerners stand the heat?**

We do this thing called getting used to it." Hi said. "Yankee."

**Back in Massachusetts, the late spring days would still be pleasantly cool. Perfect for sailing on the Cape. It was Mom's favorite time of year.**

**Finally Hi appeared at the side of the ard, chest heaving**

"My chest does not heave!"

Shelton snickered. "Yes it does."

**hair and shirt soaked.**

"Bet Tory would like that." Hi muttered.

"Not when it's soaked in sweat."

"Yeah, man, you must have stank like hell." Shelton sniffed. "Or, rephrase, you always stink."

**I didn't need psychic powers to know there was trouble.**

Hi gasped and pointed a finger a me. "Psychic!"

"It said I'm not a psychic."

**Hi trudged to me, clearly out of gas**.

"Does this mean I can't fart? Because that would be said. I like my farting abilities."

"It means you can't breathe, smart alec."

"I'm dying! Help!" Hi said in a high, squeaky voice, clutching his throat.

**Before I could speak, his finger shot into the air, begging a moment. Hands on knees, he worked to regain his breath.**

**"One." Gasp. "Minute." Gasp. "Please."**

"That's a lot of gasping, Tor."

I rolled my eyes. "Says the one gasping."

"You're reading, you're gasping."

"Idiot."

"And proud."

**I waited, thinking he might pass out.**

"I would never!"

Three voices responded as one. "Liar."

**"In retrospect, running up here was a bad plan."**

"You don't say." Shelton responded.

Hi lifted his chin in an uptight expression. "Actually, I just did."

**Quick inhales, more hiccup than gasp. "It must be a hundred degrees. My boxers are toast."**

"Holy shit. And I thought it couldn't get any worse." Hi moaned, burying his face in his hands. "They portray me as such a fat, slobbery, idiot." He whined, making sobbing sounds.

Ben snorted, letting Shelton speak for him. "Man, I'm sorry but that's just how you act."

"I'm not a fat slobbery idiot!" Hi declared, standing and holding a fist in the air. He sat back down. "But they say I am. Such conflicted emotions tumbling about in my mind…"

Shelton swatted the back of his head. "And seconds ago you were proud."

"I was?" He thought on it. "Oh yeah. I take back my previous comments. Long live the fat slobbery idiot!"

**That's Hi, always the gentleman.**

"Indeed I am."

"Indeed you are indeed."

Hiram Stolowitski lives three units over from Kit and me. Mr. Stolowitski, Linus, is a lab technician on Loggerhead. A quiet, dignified man. Hi does not take after his dead.

Hi grinned. "Thank God. If I was I'd be so boring you guy's would hate having me around."

Ben shrugged. "I like Linus."

"Better than me?"

"Yep."

**"Let's get out of here." HI was still sucking wind, but less than before. "If my mother sees me, I'll be hauled off to temple or something."**

**Hi's desire for cover was not total paranoia. Mrs. Stolowitski's sporadic bursts of piety often led to forty-minute drives to the Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim synagogue in downtown Charleston. Took practice, but I can finally pronounce it.**

**While we may not see eye-to-eye on the whole God thing, most Morris Islanders agree: we live way too far out to be regular churchgoers. Or temple.**

**To be fair, the Presbyterian church I allegedly attend is miles closer than Hi's synagogue. Kit and I attended a service once. Took me ten seconds to realize that he'd never been there before. We made no second appearance.**

"'course you didn't. Why'd Kit drag you out there, anyways?"

I shrugged, closing my eyes. "Guess he thought it would be a good start to our relationship or something. Maybe he heard that Mom and I used to help out at the church occasionally. I dunno."

"You helped out at a church?"

"Mhm. The people were really nice. In fact, it was actually quite fun. I would do that here but… well, the book's already explained."

"Seems like a Tory thing to me."

"Gee. Thanks."

**I hear the Big Guy's pretty understanding. I hope so.**

**Ruth Stolowitski also runs the community watch program for our complex. Unnecessary? Absolutely.**

"Don't tell Mum you think that."

I rolled my eyes. "Believe it or not, I actually like your Mom. I have no intentions on getting on her bad side."

**But don't tell Ruth that. She's convinced that the only thing prevented a Morris Island crime spree is her ceaseless vigilance. In my opinion, total isolation works pretty well. Who's going to rob us? A crackhead crab? A jellyfish junkie?**

"Indeed."

**To avoid his mother's every-watchful eye, Hi and I trooped to the side of the building. Which, mercifully, was in the shade. The temperature dropped ten degrees.**

"That works?!" Hi exploded. "The temp. seriously drops ten degrees in the shade?"

Shelton snickered. "I hope you're being sarcastic."

**Hi's not fat, but he's not slender, either.**

"Am too!"

"Sorry, mate. I'd go for husky. And you've got to retract the "fat slobbering idiot" thing. See? It says you aren't fat." Shelton said, ruffling Hi's hair. Hi swatted him away. "Who are you, my father? But I see how it is." Hi sniffed and turned his back on Shelton.

Husky? Plump?

"Neither?"

"How about fat slobbering idiot?"Ben suggested.

"Sure. That."

**You pick.**

"Oh how very kind."

**With wavy brown hair and a penchant for floral print shirts, Hi certainly stands out in a crowd.**

**That morning, Hi wore a yellow-and-green vine arrangement over tan shorts with a torn left pocket.**

"I ripped those?!"

Shelton snickered. "No. You tore them."

"Those were my favorite shorts!"

**Uh-oh. Don't let Ruth see that.**

"I'm not that much of a Mommy's boy."

Ben snorted. "So you're a Daddy boy?"

"I'm an independent individual."

"Ah. I'm certain. So you'd be okay with letting Ruth see that pocket?"

"Ah… On the other hand… I think I'll just not wear those for a while. Save them from being torn."

**"You all right now?" I asked. Hi's face had moved from plum to raspberry.**

"And now my face is a fruit. You guys are the best."

"Mhm. We just love you."

**"I'm exceptional,"**

"Liar! Tell them what you really think!" Hi screeched at the book.

"Are you aware that you're calling yourself a liar?"

"Yes. Yes I am. My future self, that it. I could have changed a lot, you know."

**He replied, still short of oxygen. "Wonderful. Thanks for the concern. You complete me."**

**Hi Stolowitski is a master at sarcasm.**

"Why, thank you, Tory."

"You're welcome."

**"What possessed you to run all the way up from the dock?" As the words left my mouth, I realized the insanity of my own jogging plan.**

"I'm glad we agree, nuthead."

"Meanie."

"Child."

"Meanie."

**"Ben crashed his boat while fishing for drum in Schooner Creek.**

Ben scowled at his poor boating skills.

"Now you know how weird it is to have a book insult you." Hi huffed.

"Yeah. It's all fine when reading about somebody else, but when it's yourself… just weird." Ben shuddered.

Hi grinned. "I can't wait until it's Tory's turn to be ridiculed."

"Won't happen. It's from my point of view, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Damn."

**He drove too shallow and ran aground."**

Ben muttered something illegible under his breath. "What was that?" I asked.

He shook his head and motioned me to continue. "Nothing."

**Hi had finally regained his breath. His distress was evident. "He went airborne and slashed his leg on something. I think it's bad."**

**Ben Blue lives in our complex, but sometimes stays in Mount Pleasant with his mom. I'd been waiting for Ben and Hi to take me to Folly.**

"What about me?" Shelton asked.

I shrugged. "Dunno. Not your thing?"

"It's not Hi's, either."

"Who knows, then?"

**"How bad? When? Where is he?" Worry made me babble.**

"You babble when you're worried?" Hi asked.

"Sometimes. When I'm really worried, yeah, I guess."

Shelton smirked. "And you're really worried because Ben has a scratch on his leg?" Ben shot him a look I couldn't interpret.

"Hey, Hi said he went…" I checked the book. "Airborne and _slashed_ his leg. It was bad!"

Shelton shrugged. "Ah well, Ben, be sure to slash your leg- not cut, slash-"

"There's a difference!" I insisted.

Shelton continued as if I had said nothing. "on something and let us watch Tory babble more. It's funny."

I flushed beet red and turned back to the book. Stupid Shelton.

**"He got the boat to the bunker, where I was, but then the engine died." Hi smiled ruefully. "I paddled the old canoe back here to find Shelton.**

"No!" Hi shouted, leaning across the gap to scream at it. "No! Stupid Hiram! Stupid book! Don't paddle that stupid canoe! No you dummy!"

I exchanged glances with Shelton and Ben. "Are you aware that you're shouting at yourself?"

Hi glared at me. "I'm being an idiot!"

I snickered. "Never thought we'd see the day."

"And you won't. I will make sure that in the future this will not happen."

I shook my head. "I was actually referring to your calling yourself an idiot."

Hi leaned back, blushing.

"Are you blushing?" Shelton asked, incredulous. He bent over to inspect Hi properly.

"Get off of me, man!" Hi spluttered, shoving Shelton away.

**Thought it would be faster. Dumb move.**

"Well, now you did it, don't admit it. Why am I such an idiot in the future?!" Hi moaned.

**It took forever."**

**Now I knew why Hi was so exhausted. Canoeing in the ocean is hard work, especially against the current. The bunker is only a mile and a half from the complex. He should have walked.**

"No need to rub it in." Hi grumbled, crossing his arms.

I didn't rub it in.

"Yes you did."

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did."

"No I- Oh this is stupid."

"Exactly. You did."

"Do you even remember what you're arguing about?"

"Yes."

"What?"

"Uh…"

I smirked. "Exactly."

"What** now?" Hi asked. "Should we get Mr. Blue?"**

"No." Ben said, abrupt. We all looked over to him. "Well, he would take my boat. Please, know me better than that."

"I'll try."

"How can you, if it happens in the future?"

"Shut up, Hiram."

**Ben's father, Tom Blue, operates a boat service connecting Morris to Loggerhead Island, and the ferry running between Morris and Charleston proper.**

**Hi and I looked at each other. Ben had owned his runabout for less than a month. Mr. Blue was a stickler for boat safety. If he found out about the accident, Ben could lose his favorite possession.**

"That's your favorite possession?" Shelton asked.

"Guess so."

"I thought it was that polished rock collection I gave you back a couple years ago." Shelton said, sounding slightly offended.

Ben shrugged. "That too."

"You can't have two favorite possessions."

"Sure I can."

I decided to keep reading before they went into a full out argument.

**"No," I said. "If Ben wanted his father's help, he'd have come back with you."**

"Thanks, Tor."

"Welcome."

**Seconds passed. On the beach, gulls cawed the day's avian news.**

"Poetic."

"Can I just read without you interrupting every other sentence, Hi?"

"No."

"Dare you to."

He sighed. "Alas, I cannot refuse a challenge." He grinned. "How much?"

"Five bucks."

"You're on."

**Overhead, a line of pelicans rode the wind, wings outstretched to catch the best breeze.**

I could see Hi's mouth twitching, yearning to speak.

**Decision**.

"Aha! I win!" Hi declared, moving to stand on the rickety table. "You owe me five buckaroos!"

We all swiveled around to look at him. "Actually, I said as long as you didn't interrupt every sentence. You just interrupted the other."

I watched as he did the calculation. "I… oh." He ducked his head, then shot back up, jumping higher. The table creaked and groaned under his pressure, rocking back and forth. That table was going to break. Soon."Whatever. Take your dough then leave me alone." He scrunched up his face. "Meanie."

"Keep the money. I'll take it back later."

He grinned, then jumped even higher on the table. "WOOO!"

Crack.

Ben snorted.

I raised my eyebrows.

Shelton hurried over to help Hi up.

"You okay, man?" He said, dusting off Hi with both hands.

Hi held his hands up, half smiling. "I'm fine. Jelly belly here just needs to learn how not to jump on Grampa's baby table." He shoved Shelton away. "As long as my Mom doesn't find out, and you don't turn into my Mom, then yes, I'm sure." He considered. "Thanks, though."

They headed back to their seats by around me and looked up expectantly. "Go on..."

"Pushy, pushy."

**I'd try to patch Ben up myself.**

"Tory's playing Doctor, Tory's playing Doctor." Hi sang.

"Shut. Up." I growled.

"Ditto to that." Shelton said.

**But if the wound was serious, we'd get medical help. Angry parent or not**.

Ben scowled.

"What? You disagree?"

He shook his head. "Nah. Just… go on."

**"Meet me on the path." I was already hurrying toward my house to grab a first aid kit. "We'll bike to the bunker."**

**Five minutes later, we were racing north on a strip of hard packed sand slinking through the massive dunes. The wind felt cool on my sweat-slicked skin. My hair streamed behind me in its usual hopeless red tangle.**

"Your hair isn't hopeless." Ben said, tilting his head back. Hi scuttled over so he was kneeling behind Ben. "Hmm… I'm not so sure… It's kind of…" Shelton squinted, shoving his glasses higher up on his nose. He scotched over to Ben's shoulder height. "It's very red."

I snorted, self consciously running a hand through my head. "Gee. Thanks. You guys are the best."

They didn't move and remained staring at me.

"What? You wanna picture?" It was a comical scene, all of them sitting behind each other, trying to figure out whether my hair was "hopeless." I figured it would just be best if I kept on reading.

**Too late, I thought of sunscreen. My pale New England skin offers only two tone options: white or lobster. And sunlight really kick-starts my freckles.**

**Okay, full disclosure. Modeling agencies aren't trying to sign me or anything, but I'm probably not bad looking.**

Hi tsked. "Vain, vain."

"I said I wasn't bad looking!"

"Vain, vain."

I can admit it here. Already five-five and hoping for more, I'm graced with my mother's tall, slender physique. She left me that much.

"What else did she leave you? Or rather, what didn't she?" Hi inquired. Thankfully, Shelton shut him up. With a rather hard smack on the back of his head. That would hurt. A lot.

**The path we rode swept northwest from our complex to the tip of the island, Cuming's Point. On the left, high dunes. On the right, sloping beach, then the sea**.

**Hi pedaled behind me, panting like a steam locomotive. "Should I slow down?" I yelled back over my shoulder.**

"Try it and I'll run you over! I'm Lance Armstrong! I live strong!"

I looked at him strangely. "How did you know what you were going to say?"

Hi snorted. "Two ways. One: I'm physic. Two: How do I know what I'm going to say? It's me, duh."

Oh. Right.

**"Try it and I'll run you over," He called. "I'm Lance Armstrong. I live strong."**

**Sure you are, Hi. And I'm Lara Croft.**

**I eased off gradually so he wouldn't notice.**

"You don't believe me?"

"Mr. Armstrong may have 'lived strong' but he was also using drugs, to get there, thank you very much. I was afraid you were off your drugs."

"At least I'm still "living strong". Even if I need a little… push to do it."

"A bit more than a "little push" as you say it." Shelton said. "Would you just read? Please?"

"Sorry."

**Since much of Morris Island is marsh or dune, only the northern half has ever been suitable for construction. Fort Wagner was built there. Same with the other old military works. Most were simple ditches, trenches, or holes.**

"Most. Not all." Shelton said, holding up a finger. "Our bunker is killer."

"You're quoting me now, Shelton."

"And you're interrupting. Hypocrite."

We all turned on Hi. Words weren't necessary.

**Not our bunker, baby. It's killer. We stumbled on it while searching for a lost Frisbee. A total fluke. The thing's so hidden, you have to know where it is to find it. Long abandoned and forgotten, no one else seems to remember it exists. We intend to keep it that way.**

**Five minutes more pedaling, then we cut off the path, curved up and around the face of a gigantic sand hill, and plunged down into a trough. Another thirty yards and a wall of the bunker was visible, barely, among the dunes.**

**A dozen yards right of the bunker's entrance, a side trail wandered to the beach below. I could see Ben's motorboat tied up to a half-submerged post at the edge of the surf. It rose and fell with the low waves breaking shore.**

**I dismounted and dropped my bike to the sand. Just then, a muffled curse broke from the bunker.**

"Who's cursing?"

"Ben, you dummy."

"Hey! It could have been Shelly!"

"I don't curse." Shelton protested.

"Sure you do."

"Not as often as you guys."

"Hi, you can't argue with that."

**Alarmed, I ducked inside.**

There was a long pause after. Finally, Hi's voice broke through. "Is that it?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, that sucked."

"Why did that suck? It was a perfectly valid ending for a chapter."

"'Alarmed, I ducked inside?' That's valid?"

"Why not?"

"It just seems like a crappy ending."

"Hey. I liked it."

"You ain't me, sista'."

"Thank God."

"On a different note: You were alarmed! And you ducked!"

I raised an eyebrow. "And that's odd because…?"

"You ducked!"

"So this means…?"

Shelton shrugged. "They say ducked because ducks duck bullets. Or something like that."

Hi glared at him, suspicious. "Are you making that up?"

"Yup."

"Come on… you've got to have something better than this."

"No. Why don't we just read the next chapter, then?"

"Who's reading?"

I immediately stuck my hand in the air. "Me."

Shelton glanced around the room. "Any disagreements?"

"No."

"Nope."

"Okay then. Tory it is."


	4. Chapter 4

**Happy belated Holidays everybody! Sorry that I've not updated so long, but I've been… Okay, I don't even know what I've been doing. The power was out? *sighs* Lame, I know. Anyways, I'm updating now with chappie three and four and possibly, if I can find the time (I should be able to, what with TWO WEEKS of winter break! Ah, don't you love it when the holidays land on a Wednesday?) chappie five as well. But, then again, I might not be able to because of way too many other edits, last minute Christmas presents, trying to read homestuck, doctor who, other fan fiction projects, homework, and trying to learn gallifreyan and Gaelic. There's only so much one can do over two weeks time, so I guess that the last three are probably going to be cut out… Anyways, so not to bore you too much with details about my life, let us go on to stuff about the fan fiction.**

**So I've figured that I should try writing with indents; that's what they're making me do at school, so I figured I might as well get into the habit of it. On the other hand, if any of you find it bothersome I can certainly change back. But I don't know if they'll show up... for some reason, none of my formatting (and I mean NONE. Not the bold, italics, indents or anything. It's so annoying...) Anyways, if they do and they bother you, say something and I'll change stuff. Also, special thanks to V6 Trick_Shot for getting me back on track here; I feel bad about saying this, but I almost-kinda-sorta-maybe forgot about this. Remember: almost-kinda-sorta-maybe. And that thanks goes to everybody else who bothered shooting me a PM or review. Thank you!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Virals. Really. The bolded print is taken directly from Kathy Reichs fantabulous book, and all characters/ideas/dialogue/anything-that-belongs-to-her belong to she. Oh, and anything that you might recognize probably doesn't belong to me either.**

* * *

When I started the next chapter, there was just something very, very wrong. Like I was sick and needed to puke, barf up everything in me- and not just food. But I continued reading, not knowing what else to do.

**Chapter Three**

"We know." Hi said, shooting upwards from his elbows.

"Says who? We might have forgotten," Shelton argued, pulling the books from my hands and flipping to the last chapter. "See? It might have said 'Chapter Two' and we never would have noticed! That would have been a major publishing error, if you asked me."

"Which we didn't, thank you very much." I said, yanking the book back in my lap. "Did you guys want me to read, or did you want to fawn over the chapter titles which, last I checked, didn't exist."

"Chapter Three' Is a perfectly good chapter title, you know." Ben said.

I looked over to him in surprise. "What makes you say that? 'chapter three' isn't actually a title, it's just saying what chapter it is."

"Not necessarily. It could also mean that they were to be reading 'chapter three' in a book or that they could be doing something that followed 'chapter three' or they could be, say, meeting somebody or something nicknamed 'chapter three.' Anything's possible, you know."

Surprise, surprise. I hadn't known that Ben was such an optimist. Or so creative. Or that he could actually form a speech that long just out of the blue. I decided to just cut all that out and disagree-agree with him. "You could be right. Or you could be wrong. For now, it just means the third chapter."

Ben shrugged, adopting a look of embarrassment.

I paused before continuing reading. "You guys, it's only been two words and already we've wasted five minutes on discussing them. And that wasn't even part of the chapter!"

Hi held up a hand. "Actually, if you-"

Shelton clamped a hand over his mouth. "Try shutting up."

Hi wrestled against Shelton. Failed.

"Holy crap- He bit me!" Shelton exclaimed, staring down at his hand. "Hiram Stolowitski, you bit me! You. Bit. Me! Oh my God.. are so in for it now…"

Hi faked hiding behind Ben. "I'm so scared, Mummy, save me."

Ben snorted, shoving Hi back into the open.

I rolled my eyes and went back to the book.

**Tight squeeze, and then I was in, blinking to adjust my eyes. That first slap of sunlight**

"Sunlight can't slap you." Hi said in a mock-wise tone.

Shelton smacked him, then resumed his seating. "It's being personified, idiot."

Hi feigned crying. "Mummy, he hurt me!"

"For a good reason too." I muttered.

"Daddy, Mummy's being mean." Hi whined, turning to Ben.

"Daddy, use your big stick on little Hi to teach him a lesson." I grinned at Ben. He smirked, picking up a stray plank from the ground.

Hi shielded his face, squealing like a pig. "Okay, I'm being serious now. Don't drop that thing!"

Ben snickered and tossed it behind him. It landed with a crash against the wall.

"Jesus Christ, you've grown strong." Shelton said, eyes wide. "How much did thing weigh?"

Ben shrugged his answer.

"Mummy, Daddy's gwown too stwong. I'm afwaid hew huwrt me." Hi said, adopting a scared expression.

"As you should be."

Hi made a face at me. "You know, what would happen if you two were married and I was your kid…" He didn't give us the chance to answer. "Oh my God, that would be terrifying. My first images would involve having my face where you and Be-"

I squeezed my eyes shut, holding up my hands. I could feel my face burning beet red. "Stop!" Two voices spoke as one. I opened my eyes to see that Ben had done the exact same thing. "Just… stop. Your little perverted mind has gone too far."

Shelton shuddered. "Awful mental images… I hate you, Hi."

Hi sniggered. "Life is good."

"Not when it's like that!"

"Both of you shut up and let me read!" I said. "And Hi, try blocking your seriously messed up mind."

"I can make no promises, deary."

"Shut up."

"Sor-"  
**And shadow is always a shock.**

**As hideouts go, ours may be the best ever.**

"I wouldn't say that…"

"Can you give an example?"

"A tree house that's painted brown and green camo and is four stories high. And includes a flat screen TV, king sized mattress, and limitless food."

Shelton snorted. "Show me proof of this tree house."  
"Or did it come from the bottomless depths of your imagination?" I added.

"Well…"

"Exactly."

**The main chamber is probably fifteen by thirty. Wood-beamed walls rise ten feet to the ceiling. A window slit runs to length of the wall opposite the entrance, framing a kickass view of Charleston Harbor.**

"It's not that impressive." Shelton said.

I made a face. "I like it."

"We know. You already said so in the book."

**A wooden overhang masks any hint of the opening from outside.**

**A second, smaller room lies to the left of the first, accessed by a low passageway. Same squeeze as the front door. From that chamber' sback wall, a colapsed shaft leads deeper into the hill. Mongo**

"What's a mongo?" Hi asked.

"Technically it's a monetary unit of Mongolia. I think it's equal to, like, one hundredth of a tugrik." Shelton answered.

"Tugrik…?" Hi replied, lost for words.

"Technically. Theoretically it's also a skateboarding style, a moron slash dumbass, a hunk of scrap metal, or in this case, something really big or important," I added.

Hi coughed. "Geeks."

"And proud." Shelton and I said in unison. I glanced over at him and laughed, missing his hand in a sloppy high five.

**Creepy. No one goes in there.**

**Ben slouched**

Hi gasped, alarming me. I put a hand to my chest in surprise. "What?"

"Ben was slouching!"

I rolled my eyes. "Like he is now?"

Ben straightened, scowling.

"Not anymore."

"So what's so shocking about it?"

"He was slouching! As Whitney would say-"

I put out a hand. "We do not need to hear this."

Hi continued as though I had never spoken. "Tsk tsk! A proper gentleman needs to perform correct posture! And slouching-"

Fed up, I overlapped the rest of his words with the book.

**on an old bench in the corner of the front room, injured leg propped on a chair. Blood trickled from a gash on his shin.**

I looked over at Ben, concerned. "That sounds bad."

He shrugged. "I slashed my leg on something."

Hi snickered. "And Tory's babbling about it."

"Shut up you two."

"What about me?" Shelton pipped.

"You shut up too."

**He regarded me for a moment. Then, "I asked for Shelton."**

Ben considered his words for a moment. "Am I really that blunt?"

Shelton nodded as Hi spoke. "Yes."

"You didn't even bother saying hello to Tory," Hi said.

"That's weird. You used to talk plenty. Ever since-" Ben cut Shelton short with a look I couldn't interpret. Realizing his mistake, Shelton retreated.

"What? Ever since what?"

All three boys shook their heads. "Nothing."

Most certainly not. But, sensing that I wouldn't get anything else out of them, I let it drop. There was a book to read, after all.

**Ben never wastes words.**

I could see Hi mouthing something- Says who? I arched an eyebrow, but didn't push it. Whatever. It was probably just Hi being an idiot.

_**Nice to see you too.**_

**Behind me, I sensed Hi shrugging.**

"How do you do that?" Hi asked. "Sense me shrugging, I mean."

"You're predictable, duh." That strange feeling was back, this time stronger.

"Ah." Hi said, flushing red.

**"Tory found me first. Ever try telling her what to do?"**

**Ben rolled his eyes.**

I stopped short, reading ahead._ Nice ones, dark, with lashes I'd die for._ Two words: Oh- kay. Okay, one word. Two syllables. Why was I thinking this? Unconsciously, I looked up at Ben. Huh. He did have nice eyes. Never thought I'd think that. I shook my head and skipped the sentence, reading further. The rest seemed okay, right? I'd just have to be on my watch for weird, embarrassing thoughts like that.

I had paused for too long, the boys had noticed. Of course they had.

"Why'd you stop?" Hi asked.

I shook my head, rushing to continue.

**I arched a brow,**

"No, really. Why'd you stop?"

"No reason. I'll just continue-"

"Give that here." Hi demanded.

"No." Damn. My response shouldn't have been so tense.

"Aha! So you are trying to hide something!"

"No, I just-"  
"Give me the book."

"No."

"Give me the book, Tory!"

"No."

"Fine!" Hi launched himself at me, wrestling me for the book.

"Hi, you'll tear it!"

"Then just give it to me!"

"No!"

For several minutes, Hi and I pulled the book back and forth, until finally, he let go. And it hurt. Badly.

"What the hell was that for?!" I shouted as he released, shooting me across the room.

"You wouldn't give me the book!" He replied in an equally loud voice.

Rolling my shoulders, I shoved to my feet, inspecting the book for damage. The cover was torn in half, the back page split into two sheets. It looked as though the spine had been cracked- irreparable."You've killed it." I whispered, shocked. Anger seeped from my veins as I stroked the pages, replaced by a dejected sadness. My stomach rolled, not in a painful way, rather just… forceful.

"How do you 'kill' a book?" Hi said, still pumped, throwing his hands in the air. "Don't be an idiot, you can't 'kill' a book!"

I growled, anger returning only a million times more powerful, spreading through my blood like a wild fire. An unnatural anger. "You killed it!" I snarled, dropping the book to the floor. "You-"

"What did I do?!"

"You killed it!" I clenched my hands into fists, feeling blood drip down my palm as I launched myself at him, fists at the ready. "How could you do that?! How could you-" Fingers outstretched I clawed at his face, feeling sticky liquid ooze down my arms, never stopping. No. I couldn't stop. That would have been impossible. I couldn't stop, that urge, that feral, dangerous urge biting, clawing, scratching at my veins, forcing me on. This was wrong. This was very, very, very wrong. Hi was my friend. Why couldn't I stop? But even stranger was that Hi was fighting back. Hi. Was. Fighting. Back. Through strained, uncontrollable, unfamiliar eyes I saw him. Hi. Stained red- was that my imagination? Was it my imagination or that… that beast taking over me? That monster? But worst of all were his eyes. Yellow. Orange. No, bright yellow. Mustard yellow. Golden. Unnatural. So different from his usual chestnut. And strangely familiar- scarily familiar. Terrifyingly familiar. Primal, split by black. A dog's eye. A wolf. A canine. A crazy, insane, seriously fucked up dog. Or wolf. Or- No. It wasn't crazy at all. No. It was plenty crazy. It was… It was… It was… Pain and confusion wracked at my brain as I lashed out at Hi, feeling his fists on my face, my nails under his skin. It wasn't my nails, it wasn't his fist. It was… It was… It was pain. Uncontrollable pain, bleeding through me, bleeding through him. And… and… and… Why couldn't I-

"Tory! What's wrong with you?! Tory! Tory! Oh my God, Hiram! Tory get off him! Hi! Hi stop it! Both of you! Just… Just… Just… Stop it!" Shelton cried, tugging at my shirt, trying to pull me back. Strong arms wrapped around my shoulders as I thrashed about, arms flailing, trying to get back at Hi. What was wrong with me? Why was I? Who was-?

oOo

The next thing that I could remember was numbness. Weary, I opened my eyes to see blurry images. I was still in the bunker, that much I could tell. Ben and Shelton were sitting back to back in the middle of the room, obviously tired. Hi… Hi, where was Hi?

Uncertain and unsteadily I stood, swaying back and forth. "Hi? Ben? Shelton?"

Ben and Shelton looked up at me, wary. Both stood, tensed and at the ready. "Tory?"

I nodded. "Ye- yeah, it's me."

They remained tense. "What?" I said, instantly on my guard. "What?!" My voice rose an octave. "What happened?! Why're you staring at me like that?! Stop it! Stop looking at me like that! Stop it!"

Cautious, they backed away.

"What happened?" I whispered, calming down, unknowing that I had stepped forward. My hands were blood stained, red and scratched up. "Oh my God. Oh my- Oh my God. What happened to me?" I looked back at them. "What happened to me? Answer me! Both of you! What happened to me!"

Neither of them replied.

"What happened?!" I demanded.

It was Ben who answered. "You don't… remember."

Slowly, I shook my head. "Remember what?"

Neither answered.

"Remembered what?!"

Ben took a deep breath before speaking. "You… attacked Hi."

Images flooded back to me. Blood. Anger. The book, clattering to the floor. Hi attacking me. Me attacking Hi. And… I squeezed my eyes shut, a tear leaking out. The eyes. Oh my God those eyes… those were not Hi's eyes. they weren't real. They couldn't be real.

"What happened?" I whispered, unsure I wanted to know.

"You attacked Hi…"

"What happened?" I repeated.

"He tried to get the book and you attacked him and then…"

"And then what?"

"He fought back. Both of you look pretty… uh…"

"Pretty what?"

"Bad." Shelton finished for him.

"What happened to Hi?"

Shelton turned around to face the opposite wall. "He's pretty banged up too."

Ben loped over to the figure under the blanket and took a cloth, crudely wiping away smudges of blood on his cheek while Shelton explained things to me.

"I don't know what came over you. Hi was just… he was just interupting, goofing off, y'know, being an idiot. Like always. And then… I don't even know what happened. He attacked you for the book and then you attacked him and…" He growled in frustration, throwing his hands into the air. "I don't even know! It made no sense at all." He strode over to Ben, crouching down and muttering something to him. Both glanced at me.

I sighed. For the first time since I arrived here, I felt like an outcast. I stepped over the book in the middle of the floor and kneeled next to Hi, peeling back the blanket. He looked… awful. Bruises were forming down his jaw and neck, thick red scratches around his nose and cheeks. Both eyes were black and blue.

"Why didn't you take him back?" I murmured.

Neither of them replied. I already knew the answer. "I wouldn't have been angry."

Shelton snorted. "Tory, you should have seen yourself. You were… you were an absolute monster."

Ben didn't say anything until Shelton nudged him. When he finally looked up, his eyes looked haunted. Or was that just my imagination? "I could hardly get you off of Hi. That was… you were…" He shuddered. "I don't even know. It was like you were made of steel. You were impossibly strong."

I looked back down at Hi. "And what about him? Will he be okay?"

Shelton shrugged. "He'll live. Nothing's broken, I don't think."

It took a moment for things to register. "We should get him back. He needs medical help."

Both of them stared at me like I was crazy. "Are you kidding? You know what'll happen to you?"

I shook my head. "That doesn't matter. He needs medical help and he needs it now."

Ben stood, placing both hands on my shoulders and tilting my head back. Inpected my eyes. Stared down my throat. Turned my head this way and that. Poked my forehead.

"What the hell are you trying to do?" I asked, slapping his hand away.

He shrugged. "I dunno, that's just what Doctor's do to their patients. You look fine as far as I can tell."

I tossed my hands into the air. "That was… that was just weird. Pointless and on, we need to get Hi back." They didn't move. "Now."

Slowly but surely the three of us eased Hi up, trying our hardest to be gentle. Had he not woken that moment we probably would've gotten all the way to the houses, and realized what a stupid, stupid idea it would have been to take him out in the first place.

"Hey y'all. Wassup?" Hi said, eyes snapping open, mouth curling into a grin. Ben, Shelton, and I yelped and jumped away, dropping him in the process.

"Oof. What the hell was that for?" He said, struggling to his feet.

"Hi! Are you okay? What'd you remember? What happened to you? Can you answer me? are you alright? Did you break anything? What happened? How are you? Wh-" The words spewed out of Shelton in a frenzy, strongly reminding me of Ruth Stolowitski. I shuddered. Now that was a weird image.

"I'm fine, Mother, no need to get all… uh… fussy." Hi stepped back, an eyebrow raised. "Jesus Christ. What the…" His eyes bugged out. "Did y'all go and kill a monkey while I was out? 'Cause last I checked that's illegal."

Shelton shook his head. "Look at yourself."

Hi looked down, then he himself yelped. "OhmiGod. What happened to me?! Was I sleepwalking? Did I kill someone? What-?"

Ben swatted Hi's head, obviously relieved. "Ah… It's a long story."

I nodded, stepping forward. "You don't say. They won't tell me, either." I stood next to Hi, crossing my arms. "And now that both of us are conscious and… uh…" I poked Hi's stomach. "You okay?"

He nodded, uneasy. "Why wouldn't I be?"

I took a deep breath and started over. "Now that we are both consious and well-"

"Neither of you are well." Shelton said, poking Hi in the chest, just as I had.

"What is it with you people and poking my stomach?!" Hi exploded. We ignored him.

"Look-"

"Look at what?!"

"Just listen to me!"

"What does that have anything to do with looking?" Hi mumbled.

"Just… just listen." Shelton said, exasperated. "Neither Ben nor I know exactly what happened. all that we do know is that you two were fighting-"

"As in physical fighting?" Hi asked, glancing over at me. "I mean, that would explain the blood and Tory's… uh…"

"My what?" I said sharply.

"Your face looks like something chewed it up then spat it out again." Hi said in a rush.

I huffed. "Well, you ain't no Brad Pitt either."

Hi tilted his chin up and opened his mouth to start an argument. Thankfully, Shelton stepped in. "You guys, stop it. Nobody wants another fight."

I nodded, stepping back. The movement felt unnatural, choppy. Wrong.

"So what were we fighting about?"

Ben and Shelton exchanged uneasy looks. Finally, Ben replied. "Something in the book."

"What in the book?!"

"Well…" Shelton dragged out the word.

"Yes?"

"We didn't exactly read it…"

"Oh yes you did." I growled, taking a step closer to him. "Don't you dare lie to me, I know that you read the book. There is no way that your curiosity didn't get the better of you do-"

"Okay, okay, I read it, I read it!"

Ben nodded. "We read it."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just don't kill me, man." Shelton said, stepping back and rubbing his neck.

"Yeah. Sorry."

"Whatever." Awk-ward si-lence. It's funny how that can happen at the most serious of moments. "Okay, so we were arguing about the book. What about it?" I asked at last.

"Something. Why don't we just read it?" Shelton suggested, making a move as to pick it up. Ben lifted a hand, stopping him mid-stride. "First things first. You two. Take a shower."

Both Hi and I made noises of protest. "Why don't we finish the chapter first. Then all of us sneak home to clean up. Okay?" Shelton said at last. Grudgingly, Ben agreed.

Hi strode over to the book, picking it up and tossing it to me. He made no comment about the state of it. As to avoid another fight, I didn't either. "Your majesty, Queen Victoria Brennan. I allow you to rise and read."

I squinted at him. "Dude. If I'm the Queen, who are you to tell me what to do?"

He placed a finger on his chin, thinking. "I have no earthly clue."

And, just like that, we were back in our normal positions. It was as though the fight had never occured.

Almost.

Shelton and Ben were still exchanging worried glances, and I could tell that Hi was feeling the same tugging feel at the back of our minds that stated loud and clear that something was wrong. And there was nothing we could do about it. So, like always, we ignored it.

"Where was I…" I mumbled, pulling my finger down the page.

"Oh, and one more thing," Shelton piped. "Don't skip anything. Okay? No matter how embarrassing. We're a pack. We don't ever hide things from each other."

I froze at his words. Slowly, I lifted my head to look at him. "What did you call us?"

He shivered, and not from the nonexistent cold. "I- I don't know. The words just kinda…"

"Came to you." Hi whispered, face perfectly quiet. Perfectly terrified.

"Okay. Yeah. Yeah, sure." But those words disturbed me. A pack. And they seemed so, so, familiar. Eerily familiar…

"Okay, can I read now?"

Shelton nodded. "Just don't skip."

"Fine…"

**Ben rolled his eyes.**

"We've read this already," Hi stated.

I nodded. "Yeah but…"

I looked around. All stared at me. "Ah, whatever. We were where?"

Nobody answered, but I saw Ben and Shelton exchange glances. I brushed it off. Whatever.

**revealing what I thought of their comments.**

"What were their comments again?" Hi interrupted.

I groaned, scanning the page. "Tory found me first, ever try telling her what to do? Yeah?" Hi nodded, satisfied.

**"I brought a first aid kit. Let me see your leg.**

Hi smirked. "Still playing Doctor, eh?"

I snorted. "He went airborne and cut his leg on something!"

Shelton laughed. "Slashed his leg. Very important you get the adjective right."

"Oh, shut up."

**Ben scowled, kept a close watch on my movements.**

"Macho act!" Hi exclaimed, punching the air. "Haha, and you can't let on!"

Ben scowled, crossing his arms. I snickered quietly at the next sentence.

**He was afraid I'd hurt him, but couldn't let on.**

"Haha, I knew it!"

"Oh, shut up Hi." Ben grumbled. He didn't deny anything.

"How did you know that, Hi?"

Hi smirked, waggling his eyebrows. "Great minds think alike?"

I reached over and slapped his head. "I always hated that phrase."

"Why?"

"Because it's not true."

**Good. Be nervous, wuss.**

"Hi, you're right." Ben said suddenly.

Hi whooped, punching the air with both fists. "Yes! You have crossed sides! I knew it'd happen one day!" A puzzled look crossed his face. "Now I know that I'm always right, but what was it this time?"

Ben snorted. "You aren't always right."

"But what was it, then?"

"That hearing a book tell you things is weirder than it sounds."

"That sounds pretty weird to me." Shelton said.

"Are you admitting that you're a wuss?" Hi asked, a grin spreading across his face.

Ben scowled. "No."

"But you said-"

**Unlike the rest of us, Ben has reached the magical**

"Magical…" Hi whispered in an aery voice.

**age of sixteen.**

"Well then. That was abrupt. And I was getting ready for ninja fighting pink flying pirate whales."

"I think that that is a bit much, don't you?"

"No, not at all."

"Weirdo."

"Ditto to you."

**Shelton rounds that corner next fall, and Hi just turned fifteen this spring. We are**

"Don't you just hate it when authors just suddenly change the tense?" Hi asked, frowning.

"She wasn't changing tenses." I defended.

"Sure she is. Instead of saying were, she said are. That's a tense change right there."

Miffed and uncertain, I chose not to respond.

**closing out a rough freshman year. Ben is finishing up as a sophomore.**

**instead of buying wheels like a normal person,**

"Seewee is a perfectly normal vehicle." Ben huffed.

Hi snorted. "Is not."

"What's wrong with her?"

He rolled his eyes. "For starters, it's a boat. Most sixteen year olds do not own a boat. Especially not when they could own a car."

Ben made a face. "Well excuse me, I'm sorry I live on an island in which owning a car would make no sense whatsoever."

Hi lifted his shoulders. "What can I say?"

"How about… ah… nothing?" I suggested.

"the pause killed it. You've gotta speak without hesitation. Without-"

"Shut. Up. Better?"

Hi pretended to think about it for a moment. "Ah… no. Asking if it was any better implies-"

"Oh, just shut up, Hi."

"Much, much better."

"Shut it!"

That's m'girl."

"Would you just-"

"shut up. I know. You've gotten predictable." He shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, Tory, you're losing your touch."

"Just-"

"Shut up. Exactly." He tsked. "Work harder."

"Shut it!"

"Dear, that isn't much-"

I groaned, returning to the book. Hopefully that would get him quiet, if just for a few seconds.

**Ben had just put all of his savings**

"Wait a sec." Hi said, lifting a hand. Okay. So maybe that wasn't a few seconds. Maybe... one? One and a half? It was better than nothing, though. Right?

"Did you say that you put _all_ of your savings into that boat?"

Ben huffed. "It is a wonderful boat."

"That's not my point. I was referring to the _all_ part. That means you're broke."

Ben shrugged. "Your point?"

"If you're broke, how do you intend on repaying me those ten dollars for my favorite action figure you broke when I was... eight or something?"

Ben raised his eyebrows, "I don't?"

Ouch. Bad answer.

"Ben! A bet's a bet! Come on, you've got to! Just-"

"Uh... no?"

Shelton sighed, then reached into his bag and pulled out a ten dollar bill. "Here, take the money and let Tory read."

I smiled at him. _Thanks Shelton._

"I do have one more question, though." I groaned, turning back to Hi.

"Am I going to regret saying what?"

"Probably. Anyways, how does Tory know about your finances?"

I coughed. "Um... I don't?"

"You do in the book."

"That takes place four months in the future."

"But how would you know in four months?"

"I... I don't know." I turned to Ben. "We were talking about... stuff? I dunno."

Silence. How did I know, anyways?

I coughed again, then hurriedly went back to the book.

**into an old**

Oh and now Ben was the one interrupting. Wonderful."She's not old!"

Shelton, Hi, and I all exchanged glances. "Yes she is!" We chorused, laughing.

Ben re-crossed his arms, sulking.

**sixteen-foot Boston Whaler runabout. He calls her Seewee.**

**Don't get the name, right?**

"You know, I'm offended that you can talk so disrespectfully about my ancestors to a complete stranger." Ben said.

"Hey, the book said it, not me!"

"That's not the point. You're talking about-"

"Ben! Stop it! I don't mean to offend you, the book just said-"

"The book says it and you are the book!"

I paused, thinking over his words. "Ben, are you hearing yourself? I am most certainly not a book. What you said makes... very, very, very little sense."

"It makes perfect sense! You just aren't seeing it!"

"What aren't I seeing?!"

"You aren't seeing that-"

"Both of you! Stop it!" Hi screamed, slapping both of us clear across our faces. I turned to him, eyes set with fury; Ben did the same.

"Whoa. Whoa. Guys. Guys. Guys!" Shelton shouted, poking us in the shoulders. "Calm down! What did he do to you?"

I growled, but reluctantly turned to Shelton. "He slapped me."

"And why did he do that?"

I thought about it.

"Oh." Blushing I returned to the book, trying to ignore whatever Shelton was mumbling under his breath.

**Neither did I.**

**Ben claims to be part Seewee Indian.**

"It's not just a claim." Ben muttered.

**I'm skeptical, since the Seewee were absorbed into the Catawba tribe over a century ago. How can anyone actually claim ties? But Ben has a temper, so it's not a point we argue.**

"That's the only reason you guys don't argue?" Ben said.

Nobody bothered answering. Not knowing what else to do, I kept reading.

**I guess a boat's better than nothing.**

"Better than nothing?!" Ben stood, fists at his side, clenched so tight the whites showed. "Guys, that boat is our transportation to and from Morris. It is our only transportation." I didn't bother mentioning his Dad's boat, Hugo. "Tomorrow I am not taking you guys to school. Until you admit that Seewee is a wonderful vehicle and-"

Shelton rolled his eyes. "Ben, Seewee is a great boat. Nobody meant to offend you. So why don't you just sit down and-"

Ben sat. "I'm still not taking y'all to school tomorrow."

Nobody replied, but that comment bothered all of us. I could tell.

**A non-wrecked one would be, anyway.**

**"Is there a reason you were showboating in the tidal bay?" I was dabbing iodine on Ben's shin.**

Hi sucked in a breath. "Ouch. Hope that one ain't a sticher."

"You'll get your answer soon enough. Just wait." I paused before continuing to read. "Although, I am curious. Did you read this before? I won't be mad or anything."

Hi shook his head. "Nope."

I looked at him strangely. "You sure? 'Cause your knack for knowing exactly what's going to happen is more than slightly creepy."

He nodded. "Yupperdoodles. Absolutely certain."

"Okay…"

**The wound wasn't a stitcher, thank God, just ugly.**

"I** wasn't showboating." Ben sucked in his breath as I tied off the bandage. "I tried to get closer to the shore, where the fish were. I misread the depth."**

**Ben cursed under his breath. Hi patted his back. "It's okay, sonny, we all make mistakes." He said in his most condescending voice. Ooh. That was gonna cost him.**

**"Catch anything?" I asked innocently.**

**Ben's scowl deepened. My guess hit home.**

**"And how about putting on a shirt there, pal." Hi needled.**

**Ben's eyes rolled to him.**

**"Hey." Hi spread his palms. "This is a classy bunker."**

**Having delivered his opinion on clubhouse etiquette, Hi crossed to the room's only table and sat. The rickety wooden chair listed to port. Reconsidering, Hi moved to the bench.**

I paused before continuing the next sentence. I was tempted to skip it, but remembered my promise to Shelton. Also, how bad could it be?

**Ear-tucking, thick black hair, Ben leaned one muscular**

**"**Does Tory have a crush?" Hi asked innocently, tilting his head.

I growled. Ben scowled. Shelton sent telepathic messages screaming at me to keep reading. I listened to them.

s**houlder against the bunker wall. Of medium height,**

"Ben is not of medium height." I huffed, looking up at him.

Hi snorted. "We aren't all beanstalks like you, Tory."

"I'm not a beanstalk. And Ben's taller than me."

"Whatever you say, princess."

**there wasn't an ounce of fat on him. **

"Yep. There's that crush, Tor. You can't deny it."

I blushed beet red and kept my eyes on the book. Stupidstupidstupid! Why did book-me have to think these stupid thoughts? Better question: Why was real me thinking them?!

**Ben's eyes were brown-black, his skin copper or bronze depending on the season.**

It was only (only!) when Hi started mouthing the words to 'Call Me Maybe' that I decidedly slapped him. "I'm just describing what he looks like!"

"You didn't describe what I looked like."

"Yes I did!"

"But not in such a flattering manner!"

I raised my eyebrows. "Dude, if you think you look as flattering as Ben, you're delusional."

He cheered in triumph.

"What did I say now?" I said, resigned.

"You admitted that Ben looked flattering!"

I blushed, looking down at the book. "Di- didn't we already establish this?" I stammered.

"We did?" Hi grinned and waggled his eyebrows. "Ben, Tory luuuuurves you!"

I smacked him. "Hi! No! I just said that he looks more flattering than you! Which, mind you, isn't that much to go on."

Hi shrugged. "Deep, deep down, you'll come up with something. You know you have it deep in you. Deep, deep, deep, deep-"

"Yeah. So deep that neither you, nor, I, nor anybody will ever find it."

"But it's there."

"But it might as well not be."

"Oh just read, would you?"

"Gasp. Is the almighty Hi actually... dare I say it? Giving up?"

"No, of course not, don't be silly. I just want to get home in time."

"To see your mother dearest?"

"Yeah, that."

Pause.

"Wait. No, not that."

Mwhahaha. Take that, Hi!

**"I thought Shelton could figure out how to fix the runabout," Ben said.**

Shelton held up his hands in the surrender sign. "Hey, don't blame me if things go wrong. You're the mechanic."

**Diplomatic. He was trying to apologize without actually apologizing.**

"Smooth." Hi noted.

"Diplomatic is the word." I corrected.

"But you already said that."

"Exactly."

**Ben obsesses about his boat. Sensing he was more worried about the damage than he was letting on, I accepted the olive branch.**

"You are way nicer in this book." Hi muttered.

**"If anyone can fix her, Shelton can," I said.**

"Yeah. WAaaay nicer."

"You're the mechanic, not me!" Shelton protested.

Hi shrugged, poking Shelton's head. "Aye, but you've got the brains of one."

Shelton huffed, not knowing how to reply.

**Ben nodded.**

**Ben's mother, Myra Blue, lives in a condo near the Mount Pleasant marina. Ben and his dad share a unit on Morris Island. Though the marital status of the senior Blues is unclear, taking our cues from Ben, the rest of us honor a "don't ask, don't tell" policy.**

**My guess? Ben bought the runabout**

"Unsmooth transition. What does the marital status of Tom and Myra have anything to do with Ben's runabout? And besides, we already know Ben bought the runabout." Shelton asked.

"Why don't you let me read the next sentence so we can find out?" I snapped.

Shelton ducked his head, cheeks flaming.

"Sorry."

"Sorry."

"I'm so not saying sorry."

Shelton and I looked over at Hi.

I opened my mouth to argue, but then stopped. What was the point?

**because it's easier to zip across the harbor to Mount Pleasant than to drive all the way around.**

**"I've got my phone," I said. "I'll text Shelton."**

"Good luck scoring a signal." Hi said.

"How did you know you were going to say that?" I demanded.

He snorted. "Think about what you just said."

Oh.

**"Good luck scoring a signal," Hi offered as I headed for the door. Ben remained silent, but I felt dark eyes on my back.**

"What is it with Ben's dark eyes and you?" Shelton asked.

"Eye fetish?" Hi offered.

"Okay. That was weird. And totally out of the question."

Hi nodded slowly. "You're right… It must be an eye obsession."

"Hiram!"  
**Hi was right.**

"Always am."

"Liar."

**Cell reception is sketchy on Morris, practically nonexistent at the bunker. After zigzagging**

"Is that an actual word?" Hi asked.

I arched a brow.

"No really. Is it?"

Shelton shrugged. "Dunno. I'd check but, well, they just said. Reception's sketchy."

Hi shrugged. "Whatever. I'll look it up later. Zigzagging…"

Weirdos.

**the dune-top for a good ten minutes, my message to Shelton finally went through. Descending, I was pleased to hear my phone beep an incoming text. Shelton was on his way.**

**Worming through the entryway I thought**

I blushed beet red at the next words. This was very. Very. Very. Very strange.

"Do you want one of us to read…?" Shelton offered, knowing what I was thinking.

"No, I just…"

Hi hopped onto his knees, bouncing up and down. "What? What? What? Why'd you stop?"

I grimaced. "Can I please skip this?"

Hi shook his head. "Nope nope double triple quadruple nope."

"Please?" I begged, turning to Shelton. "Please?"

Three head shakes.

"No."

"No."

"Nopeedeenopenopenope."

I shuddered and ducked my head, but continued.

**about Ben.**

"Ooh, Tory's thinking about Ben."

If possible, my face turned even more red.

**He was cute enough,**

"You think Ben's cute?" Hi asked, obviously taken aback. "And I thought I was your only love."

Shelton smacked him. "Hiram!" He admonished. I didn't dare look up to see Ben's face.

**but Lord was he moody. I'd moved to Morris six months earlier.**

"We know."

"We know you know."

"Now shut up."

"But what about-"

"All of you!"

**Since then we'd had almost daily contact, but still I couldn't say I understood him.**

"Tory, liking somebody and not understanding them is-"

"I don't like Ben!" I exploded.

"Sorry." Hi responded meekly.

**Did I like Ben? Did that explain all the verbal sparring? Closet flirting? Or was Ben simply the only option in a very, very small pond? Or was I just nuts?**

I said all of this as quickly as possible, trying to get it out of my in my softest, fastest voice. Dear God I hope that Ben wasn't offended. Because then things would get really, really awkward. More awkward- I was waiting for Hi to say something. Oh thank God he didn't. But I had paused. I had been... oh God. I had been expecting it. My life was over.

**On that happy note, I popped back inside.**

**Hi had dozed off.**

"I would not!"

"You randomly fall asleep all the time." Shelton reminded him.

"Do not- oh…"

"Yeah, oh."

"Well in that case, long live the occasionally dozing off Hi!"

**Ben was still slumped on his bench.**

"It's _hi_s bench now?"

"Apparently."

**Crossing to the window, I hopped onto the ledge and nestled into one of the old cannon grooves.**

"Sounds cozy. All you need is a cup of hot cocoa and it'd be like the perfect Christmas. Y'know, nestled into cannon grooves, listening to the ghosts of old cannons and gun shots and the sounds of war going on in the background-"

"And, y'know, an actual winter."

"That too."

**Out in the harbor, Fort Sumter looked like a miniature Camelot. Well, a gray and crappy Camelot. My mind wandered. I thought about Arthur and his knights. About Kit. About poor Guinevere.**

**About my mother. The accident.**

I swallowed back tears, refusing to look up.

"You don't need to read on now, you know." Shelton said softly.

I shook my head. "You made me talk about a cra-" My voice cracked. I forced myself to continue. "You made me talk about a crappy crush on my best friend. I can talk about my mother."

"It's different."

Tears spilled across my cheeks. I angrily wiped them away. "No it isn't!"

"Yes it is."

I shook my head, forcing myself to read on.

**Deep Breath. The memory was still a raw wound I tried not to poke.**

**Mom was killed last fall by a drunk driver. A mechanic named Alvie Turn bauer ran a stoplight and T-boned her Corolla. She was driving home from picking up a pizza. Turnbauer was leaving Sully's Bar and Grill where he'd been downing Coronas all afternoon.**

In a way, I was grateful for the uninterrupted silence they gave me. But in a way that also saddened me. I wanted this to be normal. But how could it be normal when the tears were still gushing down my face in an uncontrollable torrent?

**Turnbauer went to jail. Mom went to Resthaven Memorial Garden. I went to South Carolina.**

**Nope. Still too soon.**

**I turned my thoughts to other things. Sandals I'd seen at the open market. Paint colors I might like for my bedroom. A rough spot on a molar I feared was a cavity.**

I paused, waiting for Hi's voice to interrupt. This was the perfect place for him to crack a joke.

Nothing.

I shrugged, taking advantage of their silence.

**Eventually, a voice boomed from outside the crawl. "Someone call for a mechanic?"**

**In popped Shelton, holding a manual and a paper-stuffed folder. Ben perked up immediately.**

"Likin' the guys, eh, Ben?"

Ben and Shelton scowled, both of them jabbing him in the stomach on either side of him. Hi covered his mouth. "Oops. Sorry. Was I supposed to be, like, under a vow of silence or something?"

Shelton glared at him, not-so-discreetly mouthing dead mother you idiot.

I snickered quietly to myself, then kept reading.

**Shelton Devers is short**

"Not that short!" he protested. Hi jabbed him in the stomach with his elbow. "Two things; one: you're a hypocrite. Two: Yes you are."

"Oh. Sorry, guys."

This time, my laugh wasn't silent.

**and skinny and wears thick, round glasses. His chocolate skin**

"You sound like an edible statue or something. I wonder what your heart and brain are made of…"

"Gee. Thanks a lot."

"You're welcome."

f**avors his African-American father, but his eyelids and cheekbones hint of his Japanese mother.**

"Been inspecting Shelly here as well, have you."

"Hiram!"

**Shelton's parents both work on Loggerhead Island,**

"How do they do that? If both my parents worked there… They'd be arguing every time they saw each other…" Hi said.

Shelton rolled their eyes. "They have two totally different positions."

"But they work under the same roof!"

**Nelson as the IT specialist, Lorelei as a veterinary technician.**

**"So wise to consult an expert." Shelton raised both arms. "Be at peace, brother Ben. I can save your boat."**

**A beat, then Shelton's mock-solemn expression morphed into a grin. Snorting with laughter,**

**"You snort when you laugh?" Hi asked in amazement.**

"No."

Hi ignored him. "You snort when you laugh! Ha!" He snorted. Ben cracked a smile. A laugh. And then snorted.

**No surprise that Ben wanted Shelton's help most.**

"It isn't?" Shelton asked.

"Not really. You're the techno guru, right?"

"Yeah, but that's different from a boat."

"Not really. Here, see? Or, rather, hear?"

**He's a whiz at anything with pieces, parts, or pixels.**

"Why thank you, Tory. But pixels aren't boat parts."

"No, but a boat has pieces, and it has parts."

"But not pixels!"

"Close enough. Are you ashamed of calling yourself a genius?"

"No, but-"

"Then shut up."

**Shelton loves puzzles, ciphers, and anything with numbers. Computers, too.**

"Computers mainly." He grumbled.

**I guess you could call him our techno guru. It's what he calls himself.**

**Sheltons weakness? A fear of all things crawly.**

"It's true. Depressing, but true."

"Scaredy cat!" Hi teased.

Shelton flushed red, glaring at him. "Says the one scared of cats?"

"That was one cat! Just one cat! And it had such big fluffy fur… How could I know that it was going to attack me?"

**at his insistence, bug spray is kept in the bunker at all times. He won't win any athletic awards, either.**

"Jelly-belly."

"Says the one with the true jelly-belly."

"But I'm proud of it."

"And she just said I'm skinny! There's a difference between being weak and being fat."

"You calling me fat?"

"Yes. Yes I am."

Hi considered this for a moment. "Okay." He nodded slowly, then rose to his feet, pumping a fist in the air. "Long live the King of Jelly-Belliness!"

**Ben and Shelton spread the manual and papers across the table. Soon tehy were bickering about the nature of the malfunction and how to fix it.**

**Who knows? If they hadn't repaired the boat,**

"We repaired it?" Ben asked.

"Well, duh."

**we wouldn't have gone to Loggerhead that afternoon. Perhaps none of this would have happened.**

But we did.

And it did.

I snapped the book shut, glancing up at everybody.

Silence.

Finally: "That's it?"

"Yup."

"That's just… it."

"Yup."

"Well that's stupid."

"Yup."

"Foreshadowing is stupid."

"Yup."

"Are you going to say anything besides 'yup'?"

"Yup."

Hi groaned, giving Shelton the time to intercept. "Okay, peeps, let's get y'all cleaned up and…" He scrunched up his nose. "Okay, seriously. And good luck to you, Hi."

Hi cocked his head. "What for?"

"Getting past your Mum."

It took a minute for that to get through. And then it clicked. "Oh my God…" Hi moaned, clutching his face. "That's gonna be painful."

We all laughed. "Yes it will."

"More painful than… that?" Shelton gestured at Hi and my face.  
I considered his question for a moment. "You know, it's weird. I mean, it doesn't hurt at all. And… And you know when I said I didn't remember what happened?"

Shelton and Ben nodded. Hi just looked confused.

"Yeah, I don't remember anything. Like, anything. I don't even remember arguing about getting the book. None of it makes sense, I just… Just don't remember."

The mood in the room turned cold. Nobody spoke. Finally, Ben stepped forward. "Well, let's get going, shall we?" He rolled his neck and his shoulders. "Do you guys wanna meet back here for another chapter, or should we just…" He let the sentence drift off into nothing.

I took a deep breath. "Let's not. We can meet up on the beach or something. It's nice-ish out today, we might as well do something outside. Go swimming or… something."

Hi nodded slowly. "Swimming."

"Yeah. Swimming."

He showed his palms. "Sure." He shot a finger in the air. "One condition."

"What?"

"We go back home first. Get cleaned up. I mean, seriously, Tory…"

I snorted. "As I said before: You aren't looking your nicest either." I turned to Shelton and Ben. "Shower then swimming?"

Shelton shrugged. "Why not?"

Ben just nodded, as usual.

"Then let's go." I said, picking up the book and placing it on the table, feeling slightly regretful. Nah. It would be there the next day. No rush.

Right?

* * *

**Haha! Foreshadowing! Cliffhangers best friend, only twelve times better.**

**So I now have two things to say: 1. I apologize for any grammar errors, I was kinda rushed to get this in before the holidays. 2. I don't know if that made any sense; the whole yellow eyed madness kinda came out of nowheres. If even one person disagrees with it I'll go back and change it all. It'll make more sense later- hint*hint*hint. Spoiler alert: this might (MIGHT) have something to do with time travel… again, if you don't want that, I can change things. So happy belated Holidays y'all and hopefully you guys can review! Thanks!**

**Okay. One more thing. This is an all too late apology: This was supposed to be posted on the 25th, but I put it onto the doc manager and thought I had posted it... so sorry. Seriously. Of all stupid things... anyways, next chappie, coming up!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry 'bout the weird stuff... that was just kinda... I dunno. It just sort of came to me, so there you have it. Again, if you dislike, say so and things shall change. Chapter Five, coming up! Or Chapter Four, dependant on your perspective.**

**Disclaimer: Same as always. Virals ain't mine, nor anything you might recognize.**

* * *

It must have been a mildly comical scene, if you saw it from above. Ben, Shelton, Hi, and myself, all walking into our identical homes at identical times in the identical manner, doors swinging shut at the identical times. It was something from a comic book. And what was it with all of this unison, anyways? I didn't know at that point. And even know I don't really know, not entirely. But that's besides the point; no use living in the future, right?

Kit was, of course, at work. There was nobody to question my new, ah, barely-made-it-out-of-a-fist-fight look. When I looked into the mirror- Whoa. Shocker. My tangled mess of hair was caked in blood and dirt. My neck was dotted with purple blue splotches forming the shape of a hand, my cheeks were powdered with dust, my lips painted with blood. My own, or Hi's? All that I knew was that I had no split lip.

The shower itself was irrelevant. Methodical. Scrub, spit, scrub, rinse, done. Fresh and clean like a baby. Kind of. There were new scratches lining my neck and face, long beads of scar striping my arms. And no matter how much I scrubbed I couldn't get the blood out of my nails, the feeling of red wetness on my skin. His nails down my face, his fist in my eye. It was so… so un-Hi. So un-me, too. And those eyes… those eyes… those terrifying, terrifying eyes. Yellow, limitless, bottomless. Not Hi's eyes. But they were…

I shuddered, shook my head clear of all those thoughts. There were more important things to be done.

Shower. Check.

Swimsuit. A plain white one-suit. The only swimming wear that Whitney had not gotten to. Check.

Towel? I shrugged, then picked it up. Better safe than sorry. Check.

What else did I need? Nothing. Still, I had that itching sense that I was forgetting something. I shrugged it away- what else was I supposed to do?

I picked up the bundle containing a t-shirt and towel, then headed out the door. In the far distance I could see Shelton, Hi, and Ben, standing in a line by the docks. Little action figures, fiddling about.

I picked up my pace, speeding to a comfortable job, then full out sprint. That rush of adrenaline that pumped through my blood made me just want to go, go, and go, never to stop. Run run and run some more. Sand spewed up beneath my feet, grainy and hot. Bits of seaweed and stray shells and driftwood grinded against my feet, pound, pound, pound, pound.

"Whoa whoa whoa, hit the brakes girl!" Hi shouted as I whizzed past him, spraying foamy water in my wake.

And then I was in the waters, floating, drifting, swaying back and forth through the waters. The instant I hit that water the adrenaline simply… faded. Disappeared. Seeped into the waters as naturally as though it was the water.

And then came the… the feeling. That sick feeling in my stomach that made me feel as though I needed to get everything- everything- out. That horrible, horrible, feeling. That feeling I had felt only once before.

Red. That was all I could see. Red, red, red, and red. Disturbingly, disgustingly, depressingly beautiful red. Floating through the waters in blobs of gory red, soaking the ocean with stained scarlet. Fading everything else into the background. Faces screamed my name in the burbling falls, screaming, calling, shouting for help. Hands groped at me, grasped for me, pulled me up then dropped me again. Up, up, up, screams, down, down, down. And then… and then it was all gone. Just… gone. A name barely made it's way to my ear. A single name. And then that too, was gone.

Whisper.

I mimicked the voice in my mind, whispering that name for the world to hear.

Whisper.

Whisper.

Whisper…

oOo

"Is she awake?" A familiar voice stage-whispered. "Is she up?"

The sound of palms hitting flesh burned my ears, and I winced at the sound waves. A ringing, high pitched squeal collided with my hearing.

"Stop it!" I cried, jolting up from my seat, clawing at my ears. "Stop it, stop it, stop it!"

It didn't stop.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!"

Strong hands grasped my wrists, pulled them away from my flesh. Ben's face came into view, blurry and doubled over. Then came Hi, and Shelton.

'Tory! Calm down!"

I shook my head, trying to wipe away the tears I hadn't noticed were there. Ben let go of my wrists, allowing me to scrub at my face.

"Tory?" The voice was catious. Afraid. "Tory are you okay?"

I shook my head, gasping in the tears. "Yes. No. I… I… What happened?"

Hi stood and began pacing. "I. Have. No. Clue. Why don't you ask yourself?" He crouched back down and gestured around me. "Look at yourself? First you go berserk and attack me. Then you go berserk and attack yourself. It's like you have some sort of death wish."

I shook my head. "I didn't try to attack myself. I know I didn't. I wouldn't-"

He shrugged, then bent down and flipped my hand over to reveal my white palm. No. Not white. Red. Blood red.

I wrenched my hand away from him, carefully inspecting it. "What the hell?"

Hi nodded. "Exactly. Now, please. Explain."

He crossed his arms and leaned forward in his chair in a supposedly menacing position.

I gave him a weak smile, lifting my palms to the air. "I know no more than you. I don't even…" Speaking of… what did I remember? I… I… I was in the shower. Yeah, I could remember that. I was in the shower. And then I… And then I went out to the beach. I opened the door and… well, I must have gone out to the beach. Right? But then how come I forgot the short trip down to the beach? And how come I forgot actually being on the beach?

"I don't remember." I whispered slowly, trying to grasp the subject. "I honestly don't remember." Spoken more boldly, more clearly. My head snapped up to stare back at Hi. "What did I do that I don't remember?"

Hi made a face. "I have no earthly clue."

I drew in a deep breath. Exhaled. Inhaled again. Licked my lips. Then turned to Shelton. "Shelton, what do you remember?"

He too, shrugged and made a face. "You took a really, reeeeally long time showering. We just figured that was… ah…" He looked awkwardly at Ben, who scooted away. "Girl stuff. Y'know, females take a long time to primp and crap, yeah?"

I glared. "What, of actual importance, do you remember?"

He tilted his head to inspect the ceiling, falling onto his back. "You came racing out of your house like a rocket. And at incredible speed, too. We couldn't stop you. And then you dived into the water and didn't resurface for, like, three minutes. And when we found you, you were thrashing about in deep water, acting as though you were doing some kind of sick harlem dance or… something. We all tried to take you out but you fought against us and it was…" He shuddered. "My God, Tory, what weights have you been lifting? You were, like, superhero strong. No joke. It took all of our power to get you out of there. And let me tell you, that wasn't easy. You fought us back the whole way. Well, until Hi smacked your head and you went unconscious."

I raised my eyebrows at Hi, who simply shrugged and lifted his hands. "What can I say? You were uncontrollable."

Ben put a hand down on the table. "So let me get this straight. You don't remember anything."

I shook my head. "Zip. Nada. Bupkes. I've got no clue what any of y'all are yabbering about."

"Nothing. At all."

I shook my head again. "Nothing."

He sighed and leaned back against the wall. For several moments, we just sat there, me huddled in the corner with my towel, Ben on the other side of the room, back resting against the wall, Shelton sprawled out in the middle of the floor, and Hi sitting in a rickety chair next to Ben.

"So." I started.

"So." Hi repeated.

"So what now?"

Shelton groaned. "We… ah…"

I rolled my neck on my shoulders, then shoved off of the ground and headed over to the book. Half grin on my face I whirled around and showed it to the boys. "Now, we read."

Ben wiped a hand down his face. "Oh hell no."

My grin widened. "Oh hell yes."

Ben shook his head wildly. "You've got to be joking. Read? Now?"

"Why not?"  
"Because… Because…"

Ear to ear, now. "Because what?" I didn't give him time to answer. "See? Exacto. Now, my throat's tired,"

"No wonder." Hi mumbled.

I ignored him. "Shelton, you read."

Shelton's eyes widened. "Is her highest majesty really bestowing upon me this gift of majestic-ness?"  
I snorted, tossing him the book. "Sore throat. One time."

He caught it by the finger tips, turning it over in his hand.

"Now. Read."

Shelton took a deep breath, then flipped to the next chapter and began, ignoring Ben's sounds of protest.

**Chapter 4**

**"If you can't find the problem, just admit it." Ben's voice carried a sharp edge.**

"Hey!" Shelton started. "I can fix it, man!"

I thudded my head against the wall. This was a bad idea. He was interrupting himself, now!

Ben shrugged. "I don't want any more damage."

Shelton snorted. "I swear, I won't break your baby." He looked back at the book, eyes widening. "Hey! Look at what it says!"

**"I don't want any more damage."**

"You just said that!"

Hi rolled his eyes. "Dude, that's been happening the past five chapters."

Shelton gaped at him. "But… but… but still! It's incredible!"

Hi stretched, yawned. "I know. We're incredible. Teen physics."

I banged my head against the wall harder, too lazy to actually speak. They took the hint.

**I could tell Shelton was irked by Ben's lack of confidence.**

"Shelly, m'boy, don't listen' t'em speak 'bout 'ose loser' yabberin' 'bout no trustin' y'."

Shelton snorted. "Why the accent?"

"Sound' cool, m'boy."

**His body tensed. At least, the south half of it did. His head and shoulders were hidden inside the boat.**

**"I'm just running the possibilities, one at a time." Shelton's head reappeared. "Relax, man. I'll figure it out." Clutching a schematic,**

"Schematic, mshschematic." Hi mumbled.

**Shelton dove back into the wires of the boat's electrical system.**

"That makes it sound like our Shelly boy is swimming in an electrical current." He paused, then guffawed, realizing his joke. "He was swimming in an electrical current!" Shelton shook his head, turning back to the book.

**Ben loomed over him, arms crossed.**

**"Anything I can do to help?" I asked.**

**"No." Two voices, one reply.**

"Well then." I mumbled.

"Again with the physic-ness!"

"Is it physic when it's me predicting my next words?"

"Yes."

_Well then._

**_Well then._**

**While Hi lounged in the bunker and Ben and Shelton argued over the boat, I sat on the beach. Out of the way.**

"Be a good girl, Tory, and stay out of the way."

**In front of the clubhouse, a stone outcrop curves into the ocean, creating a small, hidden cove. The rocky spur protects the shoreline, conceals the boat and its tie-up from passing crafts, and, my favorite, isolates a cool little beach just five yards long.**

"That's your favorite?" Hi asked, incredulous.

"What's wrong with it?" I huffed.

"It's only five yards long, and that's your favorite?!"

"Bigger isn't always better, y'know."

**I glanced at the narrow path ascending our sanctuary. Even this close, the window was impossible to see. Uncanny.**

**Shelton says our bunker was part of a Civil War trench network known as Battery Gregg. Built to guard Charleston Harbor, much of the maze remains uncharted.**

"We should chart it…"

"Most is collapsed, remember?"

"Oh. Oh yeah."

**_This place is ours We must keep it secret._**

"You sound like some sort of… I dunno, prophet or something."

"Tory sound's like a prophet? She said the bunker was ours and we must keep it secret."

"Yeah. I know. I think it was the 'must.' Who says must anymore?"

"I do." I muttered under my breath.

**Strident voices crashed my thoughts.**

**"Is the battery switch on?"**

**"Of course it's on. I smell gas- maybe the engine's flooded. Let's give it a minute to clear?"**

**"No, no, no. Maybe the engine doesn't have enough gas. Pump the rubber ball."**

**"You can't be serious. Hey, make sure that silver toggle switch is pushed into the cowling or it'll never start."**

Shelton looked up at Ben. "We sound like some sort of bickering old couple."

Ben scowled back at him. "You had better pump that rubber ball. I know my own boat better than you."

Shelton laughed. "Exactly! Bickering couple!"

**Fed up and feeling useless,**

"Aw, is the poor wittle Tory feewing usewess?"

I glared at Hi. He mock shied his face.

**I decided to rejoin Hi.**

"Why thank you, Tory."

**No matter the heat outside, the bunker always stayed pleasantly cool.**

"Figures. Of course it wasn't me. You love the bloody bunker more than me!"

"It is a perfectly wonderful bunker, thank you very much." I sniffed.

**Halfway up the path I hear the outboard roar the life, followed by howls of delight from the amateur mechanics. I turned. Ben and Shelton were high-fiving madly, grinning like fools.**

**"Well done, genius squad," I said. "I'm impressed."**

**Parallel tough-guy nods. Man fix boat! Man be strong!**

**"What now?" I asked, hoping to divert the two from actually beating their chests.**

"Should I be offended?" Shelton asked.

"No." Ben deadpanned.

**"Let's take her out, make sure she's good," Ben offered. "Maybe run down to Clark Sound."**

I sighed, snuggling deeper into the make shift blanket. "We should go boating this afternoon," I murmured, closing my eyes and imagining the salty spray on my face.

"Uh, aren't you supposed to be feeling sick?" Hi asked.

"What does that have to do with boating?" I said without opening my eyes.

"After we finish this chapter we can, if you're feeling better. Down to… not Loggerhead, that's for sure." Ben suggested.

My eyes snapped open. "Why not?"

"Well, they're- or, rather, we are- talking about a change, angry gunmen chasing us, Hi getting lost behind… I mean, come on, who wants to go there?"

I made a face. "I do. That'd be exciting!"

Hi snorted. "I don't wanna die!"

"No, you don't." I turned back to Ben. "So what do you say? Boating? This afternoon? No Loggerhead, if y'all insist. How about… I dunno. Down to Clark Sound, like the book suggested?"

Ben considered, then nodded. "Sure. Why not?"

Hi shrugged. "Not. Loggerhead."

I turned over to Shelton. "What d'you say, Shelton?"

He drew in a deep breath. "I don't see how we'll ever get there if we keep talking…"

I grinned. "Get reading, then."

**Not a bad idea. Boating had been our original plan for the afternoon. Then I had a sudden thought.**

"Oh no," Hi groaned. "Not the sudden thoughts."

"What's wrong with sudden thoughts?" I asked.

"You have these weird, crazy ideas and we're all, like, NO, but then you somehow use your superpowers to get us to agree. No! Say no, Hi, say no, Shelly, Ben!"

I rolled my eyes. Yeah. Right.

**"What about loggerhead? Maybe we can locate the wolfdogs. The pack hasn't been spotted for days."**

Hi put his hands in the air. "Nooo! This is it! I'm going to die!"

Shelton snickered. "No need to be so dramatic."

"There is, there is! This could mean my death! Remember the prologue?"

Shelton's face went slack. "Oh. Oh… yeah." He glared at the book. "Don't say yes! Don't say yes!"

Drama Queens. Or Kings. Or... whatever it was.

**Confession. I am a canine fanatic. I love dogs, maybe more than humans.**

"Again, should I be offended?" Shelton asked.

I shrugged. "Nah. It's not personal, just… well, dogs don't gossip behind your back. Or try to embarrass you because you're the youngest in your grade. Or… or…" I sniffed. "Okay, I… nevermind."

**Heck, no maybe about. After all, dogs don't gossip behind your back. Or try to embarrass you because you're the youngest in your grade. Or drive cars and get killed.**

**Dogs are honest. That's more than I can say for a lot of people.**

"I'm honest." Hi muttered.

"**Why not?" Shelton replied. "I wouldn't mind seeing the monkeys."**

"No!" Shelton cried, burying his face in his hands. "No! Don't! That's stupid! Don't! Don't! Don't!"

I snorted. "Just read, shelton."

**Ben shrugged, less concerned with the destination than the journey.**

"Ben you fool, you should've said no! You. Should. Have. Said. No!"

"Hey, hey, hey, I'm just your ride-"

"Oh, yeah, you're just the ride to take us to our dooms. Yeah, mhm, just our ride."

I leaned over and tried to smack Hi. Ended up falling on my face.

"You okay?" Shelton asked, tipping me back in place.

I glared at Hi. "I'm fine. But he'd better not be. Slap him for me, would you?"

"I'd be my pleasure."

Ow, that must've hurt.

**"I can't believe you jokers fixed it." Hi was picking his way down to the beach.**

"I'm asking it again: Should I be offended?

Ben sighed. "I'm put down. You don't trust us."

Hi smirked. "I can't believe you jokers fixed it. It's all in the sentence." He leaned back and sighed with contentment. "Hi, you're a genius." He considered his words. "I meant the other Hi. The book Hi." He paused again. "And me, as well. I mean, we are the same person…"

I glanced over at Shelton.

Double ow.

**"Believe it, clown. Too much brain power here to fail." Still pumped, Shelton threw Ben another palm Ben's way.**

Hi yawned. "Oh I'm sure. It was something highly technical, I suppose? Something requiring mechanical ability? Nothing as simple as tightening a wire or flipping a switch, right?"

Shelton reddened, and looked down at the book. "Um…"

I glared at him, knowing what he was thinking. "Oh no you don't." I said. "Heck no. You made me read, you have to read too."

He sighed, then, with extreme reluctance, read the next sentence.

**"Oh I'm sure." Hi stretched, yawned. "It was something highly technical, I suppose? Something requiring mechanical ability? Nothing as simple as tightening a wire or flipping a switch, right?"**

**Ben reddened. Shelton developed a sudden interest in his sneakers.**

I grinned. "Score one for Hi."

"Aye."

"Aye?"

"Well that's what you say. Or, rather, think."

**Score one for Hi.**

"Yeah, I know. I just said that."

Shelton shook his head. "No, I meant, that's what the book said. Or, I mean, thought."

I drew up a sharp intake of breath. "Oh. Aye."

"Haha, you're takin' up pirate too!"

"Aye aye not-captain."

**"You up for a run out to Loggerhead?" I asked.**

**"Let's do it. Monkeys are always funny. You pretty much can't go wrong with a monkey, right?" Hi paused. "Well, unless that monkey wants you dead**,

Hi raised his eyebrows. "That would be a very, very, very wrong, and a bad monkey."

Shelton snickered. "Mhm."

"Don't you mhm me."

"You aren't my mother."

"You aren't mine either."

"That is so besides the point."

"You aren't my mother!"

"What the heck."

"You aren't my mother!"

"Hiram, please stop it."

"Would you like it if I were your… Mummy?" He said, mischievous smirk on his face.

"Hell no." Shelton replied, entirely unaware of what Hi was doing behind his back…

Hi turned around. When he turned around, he had a gas mask on his face, his mousy brown hair sticking up at odd angles in the light. He looked surprisingly like that boy in the 'Empty Child' episode of doctor who. "Are you my Mummy?" He whispered in his best "Empty Child" voice. "Are you my Mummy?"

"Hiram…" Shelton said in a quavering warning voice. "Hiram stop."

Hi just grinned. "Mummy, I'm scared."

"Stop it, Hi!"

"Mummy, I'm cold."

"Just stop it!"

"Mummy, I'm scared."

"Cut it out!"

"Mummy I'm cold. Mummy I'm scared. Mummy the bombs are scary."

"Quit it, Hi!"

"Mummy I don't want to be hurt by the bombs."

"There are no bombs you dumbass!" Shelton wailed, backing into the wall.

"Mummy are you there? Are you my Mummy?"

"No I am not!"

"Are you my Mummy?"

"No! Get away from me."

"Mummy, please let me in."

"No! Get away you freak!"

"Mummy please help me. Mummy, I'm scared. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy please help me. Mummy, the bombs are…"

And then Shelton screamed. And boy did he scream… loud, high pitched, and absolutely terrifying. Hi fell down and curled into the fetal position, clawing at his ears. "Cut it out, dude!" He shrieked, pawing at his face.

Painful. Pain. Red. Hot. Pain. I fell back to the ground, sticking my fingers in my ears. It was unnatural. How could he yell so loud? Shelton didn't stop. Finally, Ben stood and clamped a hand over Shelton's mouth. "Shelton. Hey. Dude. Calm down. It was just a joke." He said, forcing him back on the ground. Shelton struggled, then relaxed. Cautious, Ben let go.

"What the hell was that?" Shelton spit as soon as Ben released.

Hi whimpered, and shivered, covering his ears.

"Hi…?"

No response.

"Hi, are you okay?"

"Hi… oh God, this is another joke, isn't it."

"Hiram Stolowitski this is not funny any more! Get up!"

Nothing.

"I think he's…. ah…. I dunno. I think it's real." I paused. "But if Hi pops up and grins right now, I think I will kill him. No. I will kill him."

Shelton gulped, then crawled over to Hi. "You okay dude?" Cautious, he poked Hi's cheek. Hi just kept on whimpering and clawing at his ears.

"Hi. Please. Are you okay?"

He obviously wasn't hearing us. I didn't know why. I didn't know how. I just didn't know. And that absolutely terrified me. If I had known how much I wouldn't know in the future…. I probably would have exploded or something.

"Hi?"

Shelton looked up at the rest of us. "Okay, this is… this is wrong. I don't know what's happening. Just…"

I took in a deep breath in. "What do we know?"

Shelton paused. "Hi was freaking me out by being that… that thing… that…"

"The empty child. Yeah. Okay, then?"

"I screamed."

I winced. "Yeah. That. Okay that… that was really, really, loud. Freakishly loud. My ears are still hurting…." I shuddered.

Ben looked at me oddly. "Sounded like a normal scream to me." He paused. "Well, in a very high-pitched girl kind of scream."

Shelton swatted him. "I did not."

"Actually, Shelton, you did. But that isn't the point." I glanced at both the boys. "Why was that scream so much louder to Hi and I than to everybody else?"

They shrugged. "Super sonic hearing?" Shelton suggested.

I shook my head. "What the…. no. Just no."

Shelton shrugged. "It was worth a try. Anyways, if it wasn't that, what was it?"

I put my head in my hands. "That's the problem. I don't know." There was a long silence after that, and I wasn't sure what to do.

"Okay. Hi, sit up." What else else there to do? Cautious, I propped Hi against the wall. His breathing has slowed, his heart rate decreased. He was very obviously asleep. But he kept whimpering, hands kept twitching up to his ears, chin continuously shivering.

"What's wrong with you, Hi?" I whispered, so low I couldn't hear myself. "What's wrong with you?"

Slowly, I inhaled, then retreated back to the corner. "What now?" I asked.

Shelton licked his lips. Ben closed his eyes.

"We read." Ben said at last, picking the book off the floor and tossing it to Shelton.

"Shouldn't we wait for Hi?"

Ben shook his head. "Nah. He can-"

He was cut mid-sentence by Shelton, smacking Hi straight across the face.

"Shelton!" I admonished, getting up and hurrying to Hi's side. "What was that for?"

Shelton looked up at me, shaking. "I have no earthly clue."

His words startled me. No earthly clue… were we dealing with something… alien? I shook my head. Nah. Of course not. I was being ridiculous.

"Wassahecksappnin…" Hi mumbled, clearly disoriented.

Shelton breathed a sigh of relief. "You're okay. You're… you're okay!"

Hi groaned, rolling his neck. "Well, my ear hurts like hell, and I feel as though I've got a concussion on my knee."

All thoughts of worries vanished. Typical Hi. I raised my eyebrows. "A concussion on your knee? How does that work?"

"It doesn't. That's the point."

I rolled my eyes. Again: Typical Hi.

When I looked back at them, Shelton was fussing over Hi, Hi swatting him away, and Ben gazing stoically at the whole scene. "Not to disrupt this cozy gathering, but could we please get reading? If we're going to go out to Clark Sound…"

Shelton shook his head. "Not happening. Look outside. He gestured towards the small peep hole of a window. Beams of orange-yellow color dripped golden light down the sill, highlighting the lightest green in the trees, the darkest shadows in the brush. The sun glowed low in the sky, almost directly over the ocean.

"The sun's setting." I noted.

Ben shrugged. "Well, if y'all want to finish the chapter before night, we ought to get reading." He looked sternly over at Hi. "And you have a curfew. Better not get Ruth upset."

Hi sneered at him. "And who're you to tell me what to do? You aren't my Mother…"

Shelton groaned and dragged his hands down his face. "No… please… don't do that over, please, please, please, just don't."

Hi put up his hands. "Okay, okay. Now get reading!"

Shelton half smiled and picked up the book from in front of him, flipping the pages. "And we were…."

**"Or does needle drugs or something. Then it's a wrong, and a bad monkey."**

**Hi dropped into the boat, oblivious to our stares.**

"Meanies. Staring at me already. And-"

"Hiram!" Shelton and I chorused.

Silence.

"Thank you," I sighed.

**Minutes later we were skimming across the sea. I have to admit it was wicked cool. Even for someone who spends as much time on boats as I do.**

"The fun never ends." Ben mouthed, smirk on his face. I mentally snorted. Yup.

**I bet I'm the only person you know who ferries to school. **

"Do they really know you?"

"Well, _we_ as readers, do. Or as readers we don't. But... we do. But..."

"Calm down, Shelton, no need to confuse yourself."

"Yeah, sorry. But we don't know anybody else who ferries to school. Besides ourselves, of course."

**Twice a day, straight shot over the harbor. Monday through Friday. Rinse. Repeat. Its the only reasonable way to get there.**

**The gang and I go to Bolton Preparatory Academy in downtown Charleston. Very hoity-toity address, all antebellum homes and spanish moss-draped trees. With ivy-covered walls and pigeon pooped statues, Bolton Prep is as pretentious as it's neighborhood.**

Hi laughed. "I like that: Pigeon pooped statues."

"Why thank you."

"You're welcome."

**I shouldn't complain. Bolton is one of the best private schools in the country. Kit could never afford the tuition,**

**"**So how are you going to Bolton?"

I rolled my eyes. "Same way you are. The university picks up most of the check."

"Ah."

"Yeah. And I bet your answer could have been answered by letting Shelton continue reading." Shelton nodded.

"And this whole conversation could be gone if you didn't go into this."

"Or if you had just been patient."

"Or if you had just shut up."

"Or if-"

"Guys! Would you just let me read?"

"Oh. Yeah. Sorry Shelton."

**but the university picks up most of the check. Another perk for CU parents working on Loggerhead.**

**One tiny problem. No one there likes us**.

"Oh yes. That's just a tiny problem. I mean, who cares that it majorly effects my social life and-"

"Hi, you have no social life."

"Exactly!"

"So what's your point?"

"It's not a tiny problem!"

**The other students are all super rich. Most never let us forget that fact. They know how we got in, and why we arrive each day as a group. I've lost track f the things they call us.**

**Boat kids. Charity cases. Peasants.**

I growled. "Trust-fund babies. Elitist jerks. Snobs. Rich assholes. Arsefaces. Snide idiots. Dimwitted idiots. Ditwits."

"Ditwit?" Hi said, eyebrows raised.

"It sounds nasty."

"Ditwits. Really."

"Really."

Shelton rolled his eyes, slapping a hand to the page. Both Hi and I guiltily looked down at our laps.

**Trust-fund babies. Elitist jerks. Snobs.**

**Frankly, I was happy to be going anywhere that day besides school.**

"Aren't you always?"

"Believe it or not, I actually appreciate school," I sniffed.

"So do we. But we don't appreciate the whole 'ditwit' part."

"Speak for yourself."

"So you do appreciate it?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Exactly." Hi said smugly.

_Humph._

**We Morris Islanders stick together. They guys were already tight when I arrived. Especially Shelton and Ben. Hi's a bit of an oddity.**

"Hey!" Hi protested.

I raised my eyebrows. "You've got a problem with that?"

"I'm just a 'bit' of an oddity?!"

My eyebrows disappeared behind my hair. "I thought you were proud?"

"Of being just a 'bit' of an oddity?!"

"Uh… yeah?"

"Just 'uh yeah'?"

"Uh… yeah?"

"I thought I meant more to you guys!" He wailed, tugging at his hair.

"Uh…"

"But I'm just a 'bit' of an oddity!"

"Uh…."

"I thought we were friends!"

"Uh…"

"But I'm just a 'bit' of an oddity!"

Finally, I managed to get more than the sound 'uh' in. My next words weren't too much better. "So you've mentioned."

"And you're okay with it?!"

I sucked in a breath. "Hi, calm down. Sure we're friends. What-"

"I'm just a 'bit' of an oddity!"

"What did you want me to say? You aren't at all an oddity?"

His anxiety levels skyrocketed. "And now I'm not an oddity at all?! Oh my God, and I thought I could trust you guys. And I thought we were the bestest of besties. And I thought… and I thought… and I thought…"

Shelton intercepted his breakdown with the weirdest, wisest words of comfort. "Hi, I hate your guts and your sarcasm, and your evil laugh, and your seriously messed up mind, and think you are the weirdest, oddest, strangest, most questionable mad genius I have ever met. Think on that- who could possibly say that but your best friend?"

And weirdest of all- it worked.

"My enemy?!" Hi shrieked.

Okay. So maybe it didn't work. Thankfully, Ben came in to save the day. Sort of. "There's a fine line between enemy and friend."

Like I said- sort of.

"Oh, so you guys are my enemy too."

Ben clutched at his head. "Oh my God no. Just… no."

I sighed. "Hi, can we just read. Your sarcasm isn't being appreciated."

"Oh, so you don't appreciate me now. And I suppose that book is more important, too?" But at least now he was just joking.

"Yes. Yes it is." I frantically gestured at Shelton to keep reading.

"Yeah, well-"

**Sometimes I'm not sure any of us know what to make of him, but he definitely keeps us on our toes.**

"Slightly better." Hi muttered under his breath.

**The boys accepted me right off. Not enough options to be choosy. Plus-tooting my own horn- it was clear from the get-go how bright I am. Like them.**

"Why thank you."

**Unlike most of our classmates, we actually like learning new things. **

"Hey! What about Martha Rose Oswald? She's pretty smart, too. And the same to uh… that Hannah Chick. And last I checked, Chance Claybourne and his bud Jackson, Jason, Jamie… uh…" Hi glared at Ben. "Curse you, Ben, with all of your name calling."

Shelton took this as a reason to butt in. "And what about Louis Markham? Or… Katherianna whats-her-name? And Matthew Chilgsomething? Or… or… what'shisface Lidensmider? Or… or…"

I sighed. "Most, remember?"

Hi made a face. "There are plenty of smart people, you know. Just because we're smarter doesn't mean that others don't enjoy learning."

"I said most!"

"Yeah, but you're saying it like all. Bolton Prep is one of the best schools in the country. There are plenty of good students, just most of those good students are rich jerks. And that's just how they were raised. Kinda like how we were raised to be sci-phile ultimate teen geek people."

Hi's speech startled me. Partly because he looked like he truly believed in his words, but mostly because, well, it was true, when I thought about it.

I took a deep breath, thinking about what to say next. "Okay. Um… Shelton? Read."

Shelton shrugged, turning back to the book. _Okay then._

**Must come from our parents.**

Hi shot me an "I told you so" look, of which I chose to ignore. Wise decision, on my part.

**For me, meeting other kids who are into science was like finding buried treasure.**

**Kit wasn't thrilled that my only three friends were boys. I pointed out that no other high school kids live on Morris. And that he knows all their parents. He had no rebuttal.**

"I like Kit," Hi smiled.

I shrugged. "Thanks."

"Y'know I was talking about Kit, and not you?"

"Thanks anyways."

"Oh-kay. You're welcome."

**Whitney, Kit's girlfriend is the only one playing that song now.**

**Though we may have started as friends of convenience, the four of us have really connected.**

"Well that's nice." Hi stated.

"Yes?"

"I wasn't aware we ever started as friends of convenience, though."

"Neither was I."

Ben raised his eyebrows as the others stared at him. "No?"

Seemingly satisfied, the boys turned to me. "Well, being the only girl on this island I was kinda…"

Hi drew in a sharp breath. "Okay, moving on!"

I wasn't sure what that meant, but hopefully, nothing long term...

**Of course, I had no idea HOW connected we'd eventually become. Or why.**

**Ben took the long way to Loggerhead to avoid shallow water. It adds time, but the shortcut through the sandbars is to risky at low tide. Better to play it safe.**

**Shelton rode in front, scanning for dolphins, I sat in back with Hi,**

**Bow and Stern. I reminded myself. The boys spent hours learning nautical terms. Future pirates? News reports say they're back in business.**

"Really?" Hi asked.

"Mhm. Apparently." Shelton responded.

"Huh. I should check that out…" Hi said, eyes too bright with curiosity for any good.

I shook my head. "No you shouldn't. Besides, it's not the 'argh ye matey' kind of pirate."

Hi's face dropped. "And I was looking forward for some action…"

**Now and then the bow rose, dropped with a smack. Spray washed over us, salty and cool. I loved every watery drop.**

**I could feel a smile spread over my face. The day was looking up.**

"It's easy to please you." Hi noted.

I lifted my palms. "What can I say? I'm an easily pleased person."

**After twenty minutes of open water, a blue-green blur took from the horizon. I watched it grow and solidify into a landmass. Eventually we drew close, slowed, and pulled alongside a sugar-white beach. The sand stretched ten feet from the water. Beyond it, high-canopied trees and a dense understory shrouded any view of the island's interior. Waves lapped the shore. Frogs and insects performed an afternoon symphony of whines and hums.**

"Beautiful symphony there," Hi muttered.

"What? It is!"

**Now and then a branch rustled and an animal barked overhead.**

**There wasn't a man-made thing in sight.**

**Ben throttled down. The boat bobbed gently as we cruised by, observing the landscape in silence.**

**A sense of mystery cloaked it. Something primal. Untamed. Wild**

**Loggerhead Island.**

Shelton snapped the book shut, looking up. "And that's all for now, folks."

Hi groaned, shoving to his feet. "My ears still hurt."

Shelton lifted himself off the ground and stretched, then walked over to the table to drop the book with a soft kerplunk.

I stayed sitting, watching their moves, pacing around the room. "So now what?"

Shelton shrugged. "We go home?"

I closed my eyes, then pushed to my feet, gazing out the window. The sun was well below the sea, now. Only a thin line of orange glow remained.

"We'd best get going, then." I glanced expectantly down at Ben. "Ben? You coming?"

He rose to his feet, stepping towards the door.

"Hey, peoples." Hi stopped us. "Wait up."

Ben and I turned.

"We have school tomorrow."

"You don't say."

"No. I meant, did y'all want to bring the book to school?"

I shook my head, hurried. "Hell no. I don't want to lose that thing."

"Yeah, but don't you guys want to read it?"

"We can wait."

"But…"

"No buts."

"But…"

"I said, no buts!"

"No, seriously. We should bring it and read it during lunch."

"I said, no."

"What's the worst that could happen?"

"It could be destroyed in a fire."

Hi raised his eyebrows. "It could be destroyed in a fire here."

"Nobody knows about this place!"

"And Bolton's got some of the best security around. I mean, they have friggin school police with fancy suits and hats and shiny big guns and everything!"

"Yes, but-"

"No buts, Tory!"

I glared at him. "Taking my words. Try listening to them."

"Try listening to them yourself."

I sighed. He had a point. What was the worst that could happen?"

"Fine. But only one time. And if anything happens to it. Anything. You are so dead."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine"

"Fine."

"Fine!"

"Fine."

Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Can we go now?" Shelton asked, heading for the door. "I mean, no offense but I don't exactly want to listen to the two of you saying 'fine' all night long."

I blushed beet red. "Oh. Yeah… uh… see you tomorrow."

I turned to Hi. "We come and get the book tomorrow morning. I'll get it. If it isn't here…"

Hi put up his hands. "Okay, okay, I get it."

I nodded. "Good." I walked over to the door, squeezing through the entrance. "See ya' tomorrow Hi."

"See ya!" He called after me. Huh. What was he doing back there, anyways? I considered going back, then decided against it. Why bother?

Now that I look back, I have to regret not going back. The thing was, the book was there, in that exact same place with the exact same creases the next day. And the next, and the next, and the next. And if Hi wasn't reading it… then exactly what was he doing?

* * *

**So there we are! For the next chapter, I don't think I'll be updating for a while... not a longlong while, more like, I dunno, I week or two or something like that. I'm sorry about that, and I'm sorry about the wait for THIS chapter, but I'd like to get some other important stuff done first... anyways, no promises. Thanks for reading, and I'd be highly appreciative if you'd review! Thanks again :)**

**-VN**


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